


Meant to be Shared

by moonlight_river



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Boys over Flowers!au, F/M, M/M, Master/slave AU, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-20 10:56:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 44,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6003208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlight_river/pseuds/moonlight_river
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yixing is the highest-selling sex slave of the decade, having been recently bought for private use by Kris, heir to the Wu Group, the biggest conglomerate in South Korea. Kris, Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Sehun are part of a group of privileged rich kids known as F4, and Kris generously declares that Yixing is to be shared amongst them. However, Sehun has become increasingly unwilling to share Yixing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Serving Master Chanyeol and Master Baekhyun

Yixing moans as he gingerly lowers himself on Chanyeol’s hard shaft. Baekhyun has prepared him well, oiled fingers that had been gently inserted into him, one at a time, slowly stretching him, finger-fucking him unhurriedly while Baekhyun kissed him warmly. Amongst the four masters that he serves, Baekhyun has always been the gentlest with him, and for that Yixing is grateful. Yixing was keening into Baekhyun’s gentle ministrations, when Chanyeol, ever impatient, had growled for the them to hurry the fuck up, so Baekhyun had released Yixing with a chuckle, and Yixing had been quick to scramble into Chanyeol’s lap, well aware of the consequences of keeping Chanyeol waiting. Despite’s Baekhyun’s thorough preparations, sheathing himself into Chanyeol was painful, because Chanyeol was massive. As a sex slave, Yixing had served scores of patrons before he had been bought for private use, and he had never seen anyone as big as Chanyeol.

 

“Look at how pretty is he is, straining to fit himself in,” coos Baekhyun. “Look Yeollie, is he just lovely?”

 

Chanyeol grips the back of Baekhyun’s neck possessively. “Yes, he’s lovely, but no way as pretty as you.”

 

“How can you say that in front of Yixing!” gasps out Baekhyun in mock horror. “It’s such a mean thing to say!” Baekhyun feigns disdain at Chanyeol’s answer, but everyone in the room knows that Chanyeol’s reply was the exact answer that Baekhyun had been fishing for when he complimented Yixing in the first place. He knows Chanyeol has it bad for him, that Chanyeol is head over heels in love, and riling Chanyeol up into declaring it is one of Baekhyun’s favourite past times. Still, Yixing is feels a rush of affection and gratitude to Baekhyun when he wrenches himself free of Chanyeol’s grasp and slides up to Yixing to coddle him. Baekhyun flings his arms over Yixing’s shoulders and plants a kiss at the corner of Yixing’s mouth. “Don’t listen to that big meanie,” he coos. “You’re gorgeous.”

 

“Come back here,” growls Chanyeol, and he pulls Baekhyun back down towards him. Laughing, Baekhyun complies, and starts kissing Chanyeol in earnest. Chanyeol reciprocates with equal passion, happy now that Baekhyun’s attention is back on him. It doesn’t take Baekhyun much to make Chanyeol happy. Chanyeol spares Yixing a glance in between kisses. “Move,” he says simply, all the bite gone from his tone now that he has Baekhyun in his arms.

 

Yixing does as Chanyeol commands, rolling his hips and riding Chanyeol hard and fast, the way Chanyeol likes it. Yixing ignores how it hurts to have Chanyeol spearing up into him, stretching him way more than what is comfortable, splitting him into two. Yixing ignores all this, in favour of pleasing his master, to bring his master to release. Chanyeol doesn’t spare Yixing another glance, too busy with his arms full of Baekhyun, but Yixing knows he’s doing a good job because Chanyeol’s breathing is ragged, his kisses with Baekhyun becoming increasingly sloppy and less controlled, and he’s bucking up into Yixing, no longer content to passively let Yixing ride him. Then Chanyeol’s hips are shuddering beneath Yixing, and Yixing is quick to clamp his arse muscles down tightly around Chanyeol’s cock, just in time as he feels Chanyeol’s load shooting up into him. When Yixing carefully climbs off Chanyeol, Chanyeol is smiling at him. He pulls Yixing down on the bed, so that Yixing is lying in between him and Baekhyun. He leans down to kiss Yixing. Yixing is pleasantly surprised that the kiss Chanyeol is giving him is every bit as passionate as the kisses that he gives Baekhyun.

 

“You were perfect,” Chanyeol tells him, and Yixing smiles, glad to have pleased his master. On his other side, Baekhyun is quick to take the opportunity to plant a kiss on the dimple that appears whenever Yixing smiles.

 

“Are you sore?” he asks Yixing, gently rubbing Yixing’s entrance, which is dripping with Chanyeol’s cum. Yixing blushes slightly as he nods, embarrassed to have Chanyeol’s release leaking out of him, though he knows that it is a natural aftermath of sex.

 

“I’m afraid you’re going to be even more sore after this,” says Baekhyun gleefully, an evil glint in his eye. “You can’t expect me not to have a turn, not when your ass is so sweet and tight.” Yixing moans in appreciation as Baekhyun starts stroking his cock, easily coaxing it into hardness. Another reason why Yixing really likes Baekhyun. He always makes sure that Yixing has his release too.

 

Chanyeol takes over the stroking of Yixing’s cock when Baekhyun positions himself in between Yixing legs. Yixing’s stretched wide open after his bout with Chanyeol, so Baekhyun slides in easily. After a few thrusts, Baekhyun finds Yixing’s prostrate, and he pounds Yixing with merciless accuracy after that. Chanyeol’s hand is stroking him hard and fast, and Yixing loses control of himself. He knows that he is writhing uncontrollably on the bed, crying out his pleasure without inhibition, and his mentors back at the training facility would be utterly disappointed with the lack of control Yixing is having now, so thoroughly unprofessional and unbecoming for a sex slave, but at this moment in time, Yixing cannot be bothered. Before long, he is spilling his release into Chanyeol’s hand, and his arse is clamping down on Baekhyun’s cock, involuntarily this time. Baekhyun gasps at the tightening around his cock, and then his climax comes as well, and his cum fills Yixing up, mixing with Chanyeol’s.

 

Both Chanyeol and Baekhyun settle down for an afternoon nap, tired out after their exertions. Baekhyun is lying on his side, with Chanyeol spooned up behind him, Chanyeol’s cock in his hole, warming Chanyeol’s cock for him. Yixing is lying on his back next to Baekhyun, and Baekhyun has an arm draped across his stomach.

 

Yixing glances at the bedside clock. It’s 5 pm. Sehun’s art history lecture should be ending around now. If Sehun drives home straight after lecture, he should be home in half an hour. Thirty minutes should be enough time for Yixing to take a bath, get himself cleaned up and erase all traces of Baekhyun and Chanyeol from his body, provided Yixing starts now. He chances a glance at Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Their faces are relaxed, their breathing even. Yixing decides to take the chance to slowly pry Baekhyun’s hand off him.

 

Though Yixing tries his best to be gentle, the movement still wakes Baekhyun. He stirs in his sleep, cracking an eye open, peering at Yixing reproachfully through his sleep-laden lids. Yixing cringes internally, upset to have disturbed his master’s sleep.

 

“Master Baekhyun,” Yixing whispers quietly, so as not to disturb Chanyeol. “May I have your leave to go?”

 

Baekhyun frowns and looks disinclined to let go of Yixing. Yixing continues hesitantly, “It’s just that… Master Sehun would be back home soon… so…”

 

Baekhyun smiles in understanding, much to Yixing’s relief. He slides his arm off Yixing, and goes back to sleep, happy and content in Chanyeol’s arms. Yixing slowly maneuvers himself off the bed, trying to rock the bed as little as possible as he gets off it. He identifies his boxers from the multitude of clothes that have been strewn haphazardly all over the floor, and quietly steps into them. He finds his own shirt and trousers too, and picks them up quietly. He tiptoes across the room, opens the door, and peeks his head out. The hallway is empty, no servants around. Yixing decides it’s safe to make a dash across the hallway to his own room in just his boxers. He’s afraid that getting dressed in Chanyeol’s and Baekhyun’s room would create too much noise and disturb his sleeping masters, and secondly, he’s well aware that he’s pressed for time. He has to bath and dry off thoroughly, then blow-dry and style his hair, and make sure he’s immaculately dressed, so that he doesn’t look like he’s just had had a bath, and most definitely not like he’s just had sex. Then, he’s got to be in the foyer, waiting to greet Sehun warmly when he walks through the front door, and he’s got to look relaxed and comfortable when doing it, like he’s done nothing all day but wait for Sehun to return home. Every minute counts at this moment, precious minutes Yixing can save by not getting dressed right now, and dashing to his room, where his en-suite bathroom is, where he can work on all washing all traces of sex off him.

 

Part one of his plan goes well. He closes the door of Chanyeol’s and Baekhyun’s room quietly, and scurries across the landing to his own room without a hitch. His room door is open. Yixing doesn’t remember leaving it open. He usually closes the door when he leaves his room, but this time, the open door works to his favour, so he’s grateful that he’s forgotten to close it. He scuttles in, then stops dead in his tracks.

 

Sehun is there.

 

In his room.

 

Sitting on his bed.

 

Glaring icily at Yixing.

 

Dead, Yixing thinks. I’m dead.


	2. Serving Master Sehun

Yixing drops the bundle of clothes in his hands and instantly sinks to his knees, trying to contain his trembling. He keeps his eyes respectfully glued to the floor as he kneels in front of Sehun. Sehun gets off the bed and walks circles around Yixing, and Yixing knows that Sehun is examining him, raking his eyes all over him. Yixing blushes, knowing how he must look. Sweaty, hair in a mess, clad only in his boxers, and smelling of sex.

“You were with Chanyeol and Baekhyun.”

It’s a statement, not a question. Kris is not home at the moment, so it could only be Baekhyun and Chanyeol that he had been serving. Yixing trembles at the rage in Sehun’s voice. He dares not look up at Sehun, but he knows that Sehun’s expression must be furious.

“Look at me.”

Yixing lifts his head up. Before he could look Sehun in the eye, Sehun’s palm has coming flying down, and Yixing is slapped across the face, hard. The rings Sehun is wearing cut into him, and Yixing tastes blood on his lip. Yixing schools his expression so that he doesn’t flinch. It is well within a master’s right to strike his slave, so Yixing has nothing to complain about. In fact, learning how to withstand pain had been a big part of Yixing’s training, but for all his years of hard work, Yixing has never been able to learn the skill of numbing himself to the pain, unlike other sex slaves he knows. However, Yixing knows he already very lucky. His four masters are kind to him. Kris, Chanyeol and Baekhyun have never hit him at all, and Sehun only slaps him occasionally. Before today, only twice before. That is more than can be said for other sex slaves. Yixing thinks of his best friend, Lu Han, who had been sold to a wealthy middle-aged businessman who was famous in their circles for enjoying bdsm. He still remembers the shock and fear in Lu Han’s eyes when he was told the news, his quiet resignation and despair when his new master’s employees had come to take him away.

“I thought of you all day at school. I couldn’t get you out of my head. I skipped class to come back to you, and you were with Chanyeol and Baekyun,” Sehun almost spits out the words.

“I’m sorry, Master Sehun.” When Sehun doesn’t look the least bit pacified by the apology, Yixing lowers his eyes again. He doesn’t know what else to do, or say, to mollify Sehun. He’s upset that he’s made Sehun angry. He desperately wants to be a good slave to Sehun, and he’s ashamed of the fact that he’s managed to work his master up into a state of barely-controlled rage. But at the same time, it wasn’t like he could have rejected Baekhyun’s and Chanyeol’s request for him to serve them, and Sehun knows this. Sehun wants Yixing to himself, but the fact is Yixing serves four masters, not one.

“Get on the bed. On your hands and knees. Take off your boxers first.”

Yixing scrambles to obey. It only hits him when he is in the required position, that is a bad idea. A very bad one. His abused hole is on full display, leaking cum. He winces. He tries to hold himself steady, and even out his breathing, so that he appears calm. He feels Sehun parting his ass cheeks. He bites his bottom lip to stifle a cry when Sehun prods his sore hole, and tastes blood. His fear of Sehun examining the aftermath of Chanyeol’s and Baekhyun’s handiwork had him forgetting that his lip was cut open. The coppery taste on his tongue tells him that his lip must be bleeding profusely. He chances a backward glance at Sehun, and if Sehun’s expression had been angry before, he’s positively livid now. Yixing flinches internally, half expecting Sehun to hit him again. But instead, Sehun storms off to the en-suite bathroom, and the sound of running water tells Yixing that Sehun is washing the junk off his fingers. Yixing doesn’t dare move, not without Sehun’s permission. He stays where he is, hardly daring to move a muscle.

“Go take a bath. Wash yourself thoroughly, do you understand me?”

“Yes, Master Sehun.”

“After that, come to my room.”

With that, Sehun stalks out of Yixing’s room. Yixing heaves a sigh of relief. He scrambles to the bathroom, taking care to douche himself clean of all evidence of Chanyeol and Baekyun. The hot water that hits him is heavenly, helping to relieve his tense muscles. He doesn’t tarry in the shower though, afraid of keeping Sehun waiting. He blow-dries his hair, letting his fringe cover his forehead, a style that he knows Sehun likes on him. He frowns a little at his swollen lip. It affects how good he looks, but there’s nothing he can do about it at the moment. He pads to his walk-in wardrobe, and stares at the rows of clothes hanging in racks before him, momentarily undecided what to wear. His first instinct is to choose something that Sehun had bought for him. Perhaps seeing Yixing in clothes he bought for him will help pacify Sehun, give Sehun a semblance that Yixing is his. But in the mood Sehun is in, he is likely to tear whatever Yixing is wearing off him, ruining it. Yixing runs his fingers down the shirt Sehun had just bought him. Yixing likes the shirt a lot. It’s pure white, its cutting hangs off Yixing just so, hugging him in the right places, and the fabric is so soft and comfortable. It’s designer, costing the monthly salary of the average worker. Though Yixing lives in luxury now, he had spent his childhood in the streets, starving and dressed in rags, so every material possession he has now is a treasure to him. He would hate to see he shirt ruined, but eventually he pulls it on anyway, deciding the need to mollify Sehun outweighs anything else. He pairs the shirt with a pair of designer jeans, also bought for him by Sehun. He checks his hair one last time in the mirror, and makes his way to Sehun’s room, one level up from his.

Sehun is sitting on his own bed, waiting for him. He’s brooding, angry and tense. He says nothing when Yixing greets him. Yixing closes the door quietly, as if any loud sound right now would set Sehun off. Once the door is closed, Yixing decides it’s probably safer to kneel again, and quickly does so, keeping his eyes downcast, waiting for Sehun’s instruction. Sehun stalks over to him and grabs the front of his shirt, and drags him to his feet. Sure enough, Sehun balls up his fists into the front of Yixing’s shirt and pulls, and the soft fabric rips, buttons popping and rolling all over the floor. He tears off Yixing’s jeans and underwear with similar brusqueness, and then roughly shoves Yixing down on the bed. He sheds off his own clothes quickly, then without preamble, he slides his hard shaft into Yixing in a single hard thrust, no lube and no preparation, though Yixing is able to take it thanks Chanyeol and Beakhyun opening him up. But also thanks to Chanyeol and Baekhyun, Yixing is really sore right now, and Sehun is by no means gentle when he slams into him. Despite his training, Yixing cannot help the whimpers that Sehun tears out from his throat with every painful thrust, his toes curling and his fingers digging into the mattress, and his face contorts with pain. He wishes he could stroke his dick to distract himself from the pain, but Sehun hasn’t touched it, and Yixing doesn’t dare to. Usually, Sehun is just as good as Baekhyun when it comes to making sure Yixing enjoys sex, but this time, it looks like Sehun doesn’t give a fuck. His flaccid cock bounces up and down uselessly as Sehun pounds into him. It’s a far cry to how Sehun made love to him just this morning, when Yixing had woken up in Sehun’s bed, with Sehun planting butterfly kisses on his neck, and Sehun’s morning wood prodding gently, but insistently, at his arse cheeks.

When Sehun climaxes, Yixing does remember to clench his arse muscles around Sehun’s cock, despite how sore he was feeling and how much pain he was in. His mentors would be proud of him. Once he’s done, Sehun pulls out of Yixing wordlessly, and starts pulling on his clothes. He doesn’t slump down to kiss Yixing like he usually would. He doesn’t lie next to Yixing to cuddle, or stroke Yixing’s hair, telling him how perfect and beautiful he is. Yixing thumbs down the disappointment he feels. He had hoped that after this bout of sex, Sehun would forgive him, but apparently not. Yixing hadn’t been good enough. Then again, he had just laid there and done nothing, except to let Sehun pound into him. Yixing is usually better in bed than this. He is, after all, the highest-selling sex slave in ten years. But it was just that Sehun had been in such a foul mood, Yixing had been scared to move without permission. Thoughts race through Yixing as he racks his brains on how he can mend things between him and Sehun, but nothing comes to mind.

“Get dressed. It’s time to go down for dinner.”

Yixing winces internally at how cold he sounds. He obeys immediately, schooling his features so that he does not show any discomfort at the stickiness in between his arse cheeks as he put on his underwear and jeans. Sehun is usually really nice about letting Yixing clean up in his en-suite bathroom after they had sex, but Sehun didn’t mention it this time, and Yixing thinks it is wise not to ask. He picks up the tattered remains of his shirt. He’ll have to walk shirtless down one flight of stairs, then go to his own room to get another shirt before going down to dinner.

To his surprise, Sehun holds out a paper bag to him. It’s from a branded store. “I got this for you. On my way to school today,” says Sehun, barely looking at Yixing when he speaks. Yixing carefully opens the bag, and takes out the slim box within. He removes the cover and unfolds the layer of thin paper, and pulls out the shirt from the box, holding out the shirt from the top corners of the fold line, so that gravity unfolds the shirt for him. It’s a short-sleeve, button down shirt. Dark grey, and soft to touch. Yixing smiles, despite his swollen lip hurting him when he does so.

“Thank you, Master Sehun. It’s lovely,” Yixing says sincerely.

Yixing is pleased when Sehun looks slightly less pissed at Yixing’s words. Yixing turns to the mirror and pulls on the shirt. The fabric falls nicely, comfortable against his skin, as he buttons up the shirt. The dark grey of the shirt matches his black hair and his dark blue jeans well. The cutting fits perfectly. It is proof of how well Sehun knew Yixing’s body, that he knew Yixing’s size and what sort of cut would suit him when he picked out the shirt. Yixing examines his reflection in the mirror. He looks good. Yixing is delighted when Sehun seems to think so too. Sehun steps behind Yixing and hugs him from the back, resting his chin against the top of Yixing’s head. It’s the most intimate gesture Sehun has given him since he caught him coming back to his own room after having sex with Chanyeol and Baekhyun, and Yixing basks in the touch.

“Let’s go down to dinner.” Sehun’s tone is a lot less cold this time, and Yixing internally rejoices at this. They make their way down the stairs to the ground level, where the dining room is. They walk in silence. Sehun has never been one for words anyway, even if he were not pissed at Yixing. Yixing notes that Kris has come back home. Even before they enter the dining room, they can hear Kris, Chanyeol and Baekhyun conversing loudly, talking and laughing.

“Ah! Sehunnie!” Baekhyun and Chanyeol chorus warmly when they enter the room. Kris nods at Sehun, instead of greeting him verbally. Sehun does not acknowledge their greetings in anyway. He neither returns Kris’s nod, nor Baekhyun’s and Chanyeol’s verbal greetings. He merely makes his way wordlessly to his seat, his face devoid of expression. But that’s normal for Sehun. He only talks when it is absolutely necessary. Yixing bows, not a full-fledged 90-degrees bow, his masters are not strict and do not require it, but a half bow, only 45-degrees. Kris nonchalantly acknowledges it with a glance in his direction, and Yixing takes his place at the table.  
  
Even now, it’s surreal that he is sitting with the four richest heirs in South Korea, or F4, as they call themselves. It’s way above his station as a slave to be allowed to sit at the same table and take his meal with his masters, but when Kris had first brought him home, Baekhyun had insisted that Yixing be allowed to eat with them, almost like an equal, and the other three members of F4 hadn’t cared either way, so there he was, sitting at the same dining table as his masters, waiting quietly for the butler to serve the first course, as his four masters conversed raucously about some random girl that had actually had the guts to piss Kris off at school that day. Or rather, only three of his masters discussed the topic raucously. Sehun merely listened in. He never contributed much to such discussions anyway. Or to any discussion at all, in fact.

Kris sits at the head of the dining table. It’s his house after all. F4 live together, in his mansion, which he bought specially for them to live in as they finish up their last year of high school. Even though the four of them are insanely rich, Kris is undoubtedly the richest of them, heir to the Wu Group, the biggest conglomerate in South Korea. Kris is the one who bought Yixing. Since the age of 16, Yixing had served patrons at the pleasure house he was bound to. Yixing’s fame had skyrocketed throughout the whole country, and when he came of selling age at 21, so had his asking price. In the end, it was Kris who had outbid everyone, and no one was surprised that it was the heir to the Wu Group who could afford Yixing. Yixing’s bosses at the pleasure house had been beyond thrilled at the windfall, and Yixing’s mentors had seemed genuinely pleased for Yixing, that he had gotten himself such a good catch for his master. Kris was young and handsome, only seventeen years old, and that was by far better than being bought by a wrinkly old man with a port belly. Kris also had no sadist tendencies nor any vices like alcoholism or drug addiction, or at least none that anyone in their circles knew of. This meant it was more unlikely that he would physically abuse Yixing, though of course, no one knew for sure, since Yixing would be his very first sex slave.

Yixing’s mentors had given him a quick crash course on his new master before he had been taken away from the pleasure house. Kris is the only son, and therefore the heir apparent to the Wu Group. His parents are hardly in Korea. His father spends his time mainly in America and Europe, taking care of the family business there. His mother is in charge of the family business in Asia, and though this means she’s in Korea more often than his father, it also means she’s frequently flying to places like Japan, China and various parts of Southeast Asia, so she hardly has time for her son either. Kris has an older sister, Krystal, whom he was reportedly close to, but she had gotten married a few years ago and now lives with her husband in America. Apparently that marriage had been very important for the Wu Group, solidifying an alliance that cemented the Wu Group’s hold in the American market. The Wu Group’s stock price had soared after the marriage. With the only member of his family whom he had been close to gone now, his mentors speculated that Kris might be lonely, which might have possibly motivated him to acquire Yixing. If so, Yixing had to be at the ready to provide not just sex, but emotional comfort as well.

His mentors also told him about the three close friends Kris had grown up with. Chanyeol, whose father controls the mafia in South Korea. Baekhyun, whose family controls the entertainment and media industries. Sehun, whose family has business in oil and diamonds, and whose grandfather had been president of South Korea. They are a tight-knit group, called F4, his mentors had said, so Yixing should expect to see them around Kris often.

What Yixing’s mentors don’t tell him is that he would be expected to serve them as well. When Yixing stepped into Kris’s home for the first time, he was internally in awe at how large and how grand it is (and Yixing had come from the largest high-end pleasure house in the capital, so he is more than used to luxury), but outwardly he schooled his expression so that he would not come across as a country bumpkin. Kris’s butler, who had fetched him from the pleasure house, brought him to the sitting room, where Kris had been lounging around with his three friends. He bowed to Kris first, a full 90-degree bow, then bowed to each of his friends in turn. The butler introduced Kris and his friends to Yixing, and Yixing smiled and nodded politely to each of them in turn, and didn’t let on that he already knew who they were. Baekhyun and Chanyeol returned his smiles readily, but Sehun didn’t even acknowledge him. He merely sat there with a detached expression on his face.

“Wow, you’re so beautiful!” Baekhyun had gushed, and Yixing blushed prettily. “Of course, we all saw you on stage when we accompanied Kris to your auction, but you are even more beautiful up close!”

Yixing glanced at Kris, wondering if he would take offence at his friend showing such blatant interest in his property, but Kris waved a nonchalant hand at his three friends and said, “Well, I always share what I have with my friends here, so you’ll be serving them too, just like how you serve me. Understood?”

Yixing’s reply of “Yes, Master Kris” had been drowned out by Baekhyun squealing, “You mean we get to share Yixing?! Really?! Kris, you’re the best!” Baekhyun had thrown his arms around Kris, and Kris had been busy fending him off, “Get off me, Baekhyun! You lunatic!”, until Chanyeol took pity on Kris and bodily peeled Baekhyun off him. It was rather funny to watch, and even the corner of Sehun’s lips had quirked up a little.

Yixing’s first night at the manor had been spent with Kris. It soon became clear to Yixing from Kris’s awkwardness that it was his very first time, but Yixing made no outward show that he had any inkling of this. He guided Kris very subtlety, giving Kris the impression that he was the one in control the whole time, and responded to Kris in such a naturally eager manner that Kris completed the deed thinking he was an expert in bed. Yixing was a professional, one of the best at his craft after all. The second night, he spent with Baekhyun and Chanyeol, whom Yixing quickly realised were in a relationship. Unlike Kris, it was clear the two of them slept around a lot, and were undeniably really good and experienced in bed. It was like this for two whole months, Yixing alternating between serving Kris, and Baekhyun and Chanyeol combined.

On the other hand, Sehun treated Yixing like he was transparent for two weeks. The third week, he started looking Yixing in the eye. It was only in the fourth week that Sehun started talking to Yixing, simple things like ‘Good morning’, and ‘Good night’. By the fifth week, Sehun did not seem averse to Yixing’s company, and even asked Yixing to accompany him to a few places, like the cinema and the café, though he was really quiet and rarely spoke. On the sixth week, Sehun started touching him a little, holding his hand when they walked on the street, and even cuddling into Yixing when they watched TV in the living room. It was only in the seventh week that they had their first kiss. It was after two months since Yixing moved in that he served Sehun for the first time. Sehun had been even more nervous than Kris had been, but Yixing had quickly put him at ease. Yixing made no pretense of letting Sehun take control, unlike what he had done for Kris. He accurately sensed that Sehun needed someone to take the reins, to take care of him, so Yixing had ridden Sehun gently, kissing Sehun sweetly intermittently and all the while praising Sehun on how good Sehun had made him feel. Even after the first time, Sehun rarely requested Yixing’s service, and Yixing had spent most of his time serving his other three masters. But that was four months ago. Since then, Sehun had increasingly become more and more attached to Yixing, to the point that he was barely willing to share Yixing at all, not even with Kris, who was technically Yixing’s real owner.

A contingent of maids arrived with the first course. The five maids lay down the dish at precisely the same timing for the five men seated at the table. Yixing winces when he sees that it’s a soup course, instead of the salad course he had been hoping for. The soup is piping hot, and with his swollen lip, it would be a torture to drink. He plays with the soup a little, swirling his spoon in it, wondering how little of it he could get away with eating for it to be polite. Glancing around, he notices the others have almost finished their soup. It will be time for the second course soon, and Yixing’s full bowl might go noticed. The last thing he wants to come across as is fussy, so Yixing gingerly takes a sip. It’s a big mistake. It hurts, and though Yixing was able to stop himself from making any noise, his face visibly flinches at the pain, and this catches Baekhyun’s attention.

“Yixing! Are you alright? Ah! Your lips are swollen! What happened?”

Yixing is frozen in his seat. He turns to Baekhyun, about to cook up a story that he slipped and fell in the bathroom, but Baekhyun has already turned to Sehun.

“You hit him, didn’t you?” Baekhyun accuses. “You hit him cos he was with me and Chanyeol this afternoon. Sehunnie, you know you can’t do things like that! You shouldn’t have hit Yixing, no matter what! And anyway, Yixing did nothing wrong. Yixing is for all of us to share! Kris said so! Isn’t that right Kris?” Baekhyun turns imperiously to Kris, demanding his opinion on the matter.

Kris frowns at Sehun. “Baekhyun’s right, you know,” Kris backs Baekhyun up, though in a gentler tone than the one Baekhyun had been using. “I did say that Yixing is meant to be shared. You can’t fault Yixing for serving Baekhyun and Chanyeol. I told him he had to serve all of you, so he was only doing what was expected of him.”

Sehun’s face falls, from a blank detached expression to a full-blown pout. Alarmed, Kris immediately backpedals, and he turns to accuse Baekhyun instead, “It’s your fault too! I told you to tone it down with Yixing in front of Sehun! You know how Sehun favours him!”

“But we did! Didn’t we, Yeollie!” Baekhyun now turns to his boyfriend for help. “We only ever touch Yixing when Sehun’s out of the house now. We waited until Sehun was out for his lecture, before we took him. We’ve haven’t had the opportunity to be with Yixing for the longest time. Sehun hogs him all the time!”

“That’s enough, Baek,” Chanyeol cuts Baekhyun off, his tone firm. Yixing’s surprised. Baekhyun usually has Chanyeol eating out of his hand, and this is the first time he’s heard Chanyeol use such a tone with Baekhyun. Baekhyun falls silent immediately. Chanyeol scoots his chair over to Sehun, and ruffles his hair fondly. “We know you didn’t mean to hurt Yixing,” Chanyeol says. “Don’t worry, Yixing is not badly hurt. Isn’t that right, Yixing?”

“Yes, of course,” Yixing is quick to reply. “This is nothing, really. Please don’t worry about it.”

“We’ll get Ivy to take a look at it. She’ll fix Yixing up in no time.” Chanyeol sends Kris’s butler a significant look.

“I summon Ivy right away, sir.” Steward Kim has always been quick on the uptake.

Ivy is one of the many maids in Kris’s household, but she’s also a trained nurse. Kris’s mother hired her so that she can provide immediate medical treatment if any of the young masters ever fell sick. Ivy arrives at the dining room moments after the second course is served. She takes a quick look at Yixing’s lip. “He just needs a little bit of ice to be applied on his lip, to reduce the swelling. After that, a little bit of antiseptic should be applied to the wound every few hours, until the wound closes. That shouldn’t take long. It should happen by tomorrow, or in the next couple of days at the very latest.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Do it now,” snaps Kris. He has never been polite to his servants.

Yixing feels a little awkward to have Ivy standing next to him at the dining table, holding an ice pack to his face, with his masters continue with their meal. But Kris has given the order that Ivy should administer the medical treatment right now, and no one dares to go against a direct order from Kris. None of his masters had given him leave to go out of the dining room either, and Yixing dares not ask permission to, not with Sehun still sulking so obviously, so there he sits. Yixing knows that this must be equally uncomfortable for Ivy, so he shoots her a sympathetic look. Conversation at the dining table has picked up again, mainly about this girl, Geum Jandi, who has apparently pissed Kris off, and Kris wants to put a red notice paper in her locker tomorrow. Yixing feels sorry for the girl. The whole school will be on her back.

It’s time for the third course, but Sehun hasn’t taken a single bite out of his second course. Apparently, he has just been pushing food around the plate with his fork.

“Eat a little, Sehunnie,” Chanyeol gently implores him. “What good would it do to starve yourself?”

“Yeah, Sehunnie, you should eat,” Baekhyhun agrees. “I’m sorry… for yelling at you earlier. I shouldn’t have. Don’t be mad alright?”

Yixing is not surprised that Baekhyun has swallowed his pride and apologized to Sehun. Everyone in the room knows that Sehun is at fault, that Sehun is acting like a brat, but the other members of F4 have always pampered Sehun, doted on him beyond the point of reason. One major reason for this is that Sehun is the baby of F4, one year younger than the rest of them, even though he is in same year as them in school. Apparently, when it was Sehun’s first day of elementary school, Kris, Chanyeol and Baekhyun had picked him up from his home and walked him to his new classroom. One look at the roomful of unfamiliar kids had Sehun bursting into tears, and clinging on to Baekhyun and Chanyeol, absolutely refusing to let go. In the end, eight year old Kris had imperiously told their teachers that seven year old Sehun was going to be in the same class as Chanyeol, Baekhyun and him, and since Kris’s family owned the school anyway, none of the school staff, not even the principal, dared defy Kris. Now that Sehun was sixteen years old, he was better at attending lessons by himself, which resulted in him taking art history, a subject none of the other F4 members were interested in. Sehun’s class has a headcount of one though, since Sehun still isn’t all that fond of socializing, so all his lessons are personalized. The second major reason for Sehun’s preferential treatment was that Sehun’s parents had died in a car accident when he was six years old. Sehun had been in the accident too, but had survived. According to Chanyeol, Sehun had been the sweetest, bubbliest kid before the accident, but seeing his parents die in front of him had changed Sehun forever. He had refused to speak for six months after the accident, freaking out all his caretakers. The doctors diagnosed him with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and as a result, the other members of F4 generally gave in to Sehun all the time, though admittedly Sehun never made very many requests. He’s mostly just really quiet.

At Baekhyun’s plea for him to eat, Sehun puts down his fork defiantly and pushes his plate away from him. Kris catches Yixing’s eye over the ice pack, and he cocks his head in Sehun’s direction. Yixing gets the drift immediately. He smiles up at Ivy, “Thanks. I’ll be fine now.”

“Really?” says Ivy, “But the swelling hasn’t gone down yet, and I haven’t put the antiseptic…”

“No worries,” says Yixing gently but firmly. “I’ll do it myself later, after dinner.”

Ivy cottons on, and she bows and leaves the room. Yixing shifts his chair, so that he’s seated right next to Sehun. He pulls Sehun’s plate towards him, and picks up Sehun’s discarded knife and fork. The second course is turkey breast slices with mint dressing, and Yixing busies himself slicing the turkey breast into bite-sized pieces.

“Master Chanyeol and Master Baekhyun are right. You should eat, Master Sehun,” Yixing says gently, spearing a piece, and holding it front of Sehun’s lips. Sehun’s expression is still petulant, but he concedes and accepts the piece. Yixing spends the remainder of the meal feeding Sehun. The other F4 members look on, amused, but don’t otherwise comment on it.

After dinner, they retire to the games room. Yixing’s masters turn on the x-box, and settle down comfortably on the couch for a night of intense gaming. When Yixing first came, he would spend evenings such as these flitting from master to master, feeding this master a piece of chocolate, sitting on that other master’s lap for a while, or rewarding the winner of that round of gaming with a kiss. However, for the past one month, Sehun had only allowed Yixing to cuddle up to him, and to no one else. Thus, Yixing bypasses all his other masters, and chooses to sit next to Sehun. To his surprise, instead of curling into him like he normally would, Sehun immediately gets up and then sits himself down on an individual armchair, pointedly distancing himself from Yixing. Yixing had thought that Sehun’s anger at him had been appeased, but apparently not. Yixing knows that he shouldn’t feel hurt, he is only a slave and is in no position to make any demands on his masters to show any sort of consideration towards his feelings whatsoever, but he is. Sehun’s gesture does not go unnoticed by the other members of F4 either, and an awkward silence descends on the room.

Eventually it is Kris that breaks the silence and relieves Yixing from his misery, “Go ice your lip, Yixing, and put some medicine on it. Then eat some dinner. You didn’t get the chance to eat anything just now.”

Yixing bows and leaves the room.


	3. Serving Master Kris

Yixing is in the bathroom, fresh from yet another bath, this time to wash Sehun’s cum out of him. He is standing in front of his bathroom mirror, applying medication on his lip, when he hears his bedroom door open and close. Whoever has entered the room clicks the lock shut a second later. Though Yixing has a habit of closing his door, he never locks it, mindful that he has to be accessible to his masters at all times. The only time his room door is locked is when one of his masters locks it, for private time with Yixing. Yixing wraps a towel around his waist, then exits the bathroom. He had been expecting to see Sehun, but it is Kris that is sitting on the edge of his bed. Yixing is surprised. He didn’t think any of his other masters would want him to serve them, not when Sehun is still so upset.

 

“Chanyeol and Baekhyun have taken Sehun out for ice-cream. They’ve gone to the 24-hour ice-cream parlour downtown,” Kris says by way of explanation.

 

Yixing smiles coyly at Kris, tilting his head downwards and peering up at Kris with a come-hither expression. He slowly slides his fingers down his own chest, fingers skimming lightly over his own skin, coming to rest on his edge of his towel. Kris follows the descend of his hand, his eyes hungry.

 

“Come here.” Kris’s voice is low and husky.

 

Yixing does, sauntering over slowly. He stands in front of Kris, in between his legs. Yixing runs a hand through his master’s hair, starting from his fringe, up and round the back of his head, down his master’s chiseled jaw and ending with a tip of his finger under his master’s chin.

 

“How would you like me service you, Master Kris?” Yixing’s voice is sultry, practically purring.

 

Kris moves to remove Yixing’s towel, but Yixing stops him, his fingers grabbing Kris’s wrists before his hands manage to touch his towel. Yixing kisses the insides of his master’s wrists, before laying his master’s hands palm down on the bed on either side of him. Kris complies, pliant and accommodating for the time being. Yixing plants a kiss on Kris’s cheek, then proceeds to press butterfly kisses, down his master’s cheek, then down his neck. Kris’s shirt starts getting in the way, and Yixing slowly unbuttons it, one button at a time, kissing his way down Kris’s torso as more and more of Kris’s skins gets exposed with each undone button. When Kris’s shirt is fully unbuttoned, Yixing slides the shirt off his master’s shoulders, then proceeds to peel his master’s trousers and underwear of him. He kneels in between his master’s legs, and slowly and deliberately, he encases his master’s cock in his mouth. He twirls his master’s cock languidly around his tongue, sucking at it, coaxing it into full hardness. Kris’s cock swells, and Yixing’s mouth strains to accommodate the burgeoning girth. His lip throbs, but Yixing opens wide and deep throats Kris anyway. He is rewarded by Kris moaning, a needy guttural sound. Yixing bobs his head up and down Kris’s length, looking up seductively at Kris every now and then.

 

Yixing has every intention of bringing his master off using his mouth, but Kris has other ideas. As he gets more and more stimulated, Kris throws self-control into the wind, like he always does once Yixing has worked him up enough. He pulls abruptly out of Yixing, picks him up bridal style, then tosses him unceremoniously on the bed. The towel is unable to withstand Kris’s rough manhandling, and it falls apart at the impact of Yixing falling on the bed. Kris climbs in between Yixing’s legs, and Yixing hooks his ankles on Kris’s shoulders, knowing that this is Kris’s favorite position to take Yixing, as it bends Yixing in half with every thrust Kris makes. For the fifth time today, Yixing is penetrated by one of his masters. After the first month of experimentation, Kris stopped using lube on Yixing, and he enjoys fucking him raw and hard. He doesn’t touch Yixing’s cock either, enjoying the way Yixing’s soft cock bounces during their coupling. Yixing knows Kris gets off on this, the dominance that highlights the power that a master has over his slave. Yixing moans with every hard thrust, his face contorted into an expression that is a mixture of bliss and pain as Kris abuses his already sore hole, well-aware that Kris loves it when Yixing wears this expression.

 

After Kris spills his load into Yixing, and has kissed him goodnight, Yixing pads back to the bathroom to get cleaned up once again. After that, Yixing waits anxiously for Sehun’s summons. For the past month, Yixing has not slept in his own bed. He had slept in Sehun’s. But tonight, the summons don’t come. Yixing knows his three masters are back from their trip to the ice-cream parlour, has heard them coming in. Yixing paces around his room as he waits, fidgety and uneasy, and when the summons don’t come even after it’s past midnight, Yixing finally resigns himself to the fact that Sehun won’t be calling him tonight.

 

He climbs into bed alone. His own bed suddenly feels too big, and too cold. Though Yixing lies down and closes his eyes, sleep doesn’t come. Yixing tosses and turns, changing position multiple times, but each position is more uncomfortable than the last. His body misses the Sehun’s warmth, the sound of his breathing, the feeling of comfort and security that only comes when you share your bed with your lover. After one hour, Yixing can’t take it anymore. He’s going to go to Sehun, never mind the fact that it’s a great taboo for a slave to approach his master’s bed unbidden.

 

Yixing makes his way to Sehun’s room in darkness, not bothering with switching on the lights to illuminate the way. The route to Sehun’s bedroom is one that he knows by heart. Yixing tries the knob to Sehun’s room, and his heart leaps when he realizes the door is not locked, and he lets himself in. As he approaches the bed, he can see the outline of Sehun’s sleeping form. Sehun is still, quiet, and it is only when Yixing is standing at the side of the bed does he see that Sehun’s eyes are wide open, peering up forlornly at Yixing. Despite himself, Yixing smiles, comforted by the fact that he is not the only one who cannot sleep. Yixing quietly lifts up the covers, and he slides into the bed next to Sehun.

 

“Master Sehun,” Yixing murmurs in greeting, kissing Sehun full on the lips.

 

When Yixing breaks the kiss and lies back on his pillow, Sehun instantly scoots over, curling up into Yixing and putting his head on Yixing’s shoulder. Yixing threads his fingers into Sehun’s hair, drawing soothing circles on the back of his head.

 

“You took so long to come. I thought you weren’t coming at all.” Sehun’s voice is quiet, insecure.

 

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted me here. You didn’t summon me.”

 

“But you came anyway.”

 

“I came anyway,” Yixing affirms, hoping that Sehun can feel the depth of the sincerity that he feels for him.

 

They lie in silence for a while, before Sehun chokes out, “Did Kris-hyung take you, when I was out with Chanyeol-hyung and Baekhyun-hyung?”

 

Yixing considers lying, but he doesn’t want to break Sehun’s trust in him. In the end, he doesn’t say anything, and the silence is an admission in itself. Sehun abruptly turns away from Yixing, facing the other side of the bed. Yixing immediately reaches out for him, spooning him from behind. Yixing’s heart breaks when he realizes that Sehun is sobbing quietly into the pillow. He turns Sehun so that Sehun is lying on his back, instead of facing away from him. Yixing drapes himself over Sehun, kissing away the tears.

 

“I’m yours, Master Sehun. Yours,” he reassures Sehun in between kisses.

 

“You’re mine, but you’re Kris-hyung’s and Chanyeol-hyung’s and Baekhyun-hyung’s too. I can’t stand it. They’re my hyungs, and I love them, and I don’t know what I’ll do without them, but I can’t stand the thought of them touching you.”

 

“Yes, I serve them, as I do you, but it doesn’t make me any less yours. I serve you with all my heart, no matter what. What I have with them doesn’t make what I have with you any less precious in any way.”

 

“I love you.”

 

Sehun finally confesses it. Yixing has been expecting it for some time now. Yixing’s mentors had speculated that Kris might need emotional support now that his sister had left him for America, but they had speculated wrongly. Yixing knows that Kris is indeed lonely, but Yixing is not the person he turns to for solace. Kris only bought Yixing to prove a point, to show off the status and wealth of the Wu Family, though Kris is also extremely attracted to Yixing physically. It is Sehun that Yixing needs to provide emotional comfort for.

 

“I love you too,” Yixing says sincerely, without missing a beat. Yixing is a professional, well-trained and highly skilled.

 

“You… do?”

 

“Yes, I do. I have loved you for a while now. You are special to me, Master Sehun.”

 

Sehun makes a happy noise the back of his throat, and the tears are gone now, a distant memory. Yixing’s heart delights at how happy and relaxed Sehun is. He hugs Sehun close to him, and Sehun falls asleep in his arms, a contented smile tugging at the corners of his lips. With Sehun warm and happy in his arms, Yixing allows sleep to overtake him too, pleased to have served his master well, and pleased that all should be right between Sehun and him, at least for now.


	4. Acquiring Taeyeon

Yixing sits at the back seat of the chauffeured limousine, watching the scenery whizz by the car window. Sehun had called him at school today, requesting that Yixing pick him up after his last class. When the limousine had pulled up the school driveway, and Sehun had slid into the backseat next to him, Yixing had asked Sehun where they were going, but Sehun hadn’t answered. Sehun has a habit of simply ignoring questions that he does not feel like answering. Yixing knows better than to ask again. The scenery outside the car window becomes increasingly more and more familiar, but… it can’t be. What reason could Sehun possibly have for going there?

 

However, despite Yixing’s doubts, their car does indeed pull into the long tree-lined driveway that Yixing’s so familiar with, and when the limousine comes to a stop and Yixing steps out of it, acknowledging the bellboy who opens the car door for him with a nod (Shin, Yixing remembers his name is), Yixing finds himself looking up at the opulent grand entrance of the pleasure house that had sold him six months ago, the pleasure house that had been Yixing’s home since he was twelve years old. He walks around the car to stand next to Sehun. There’s a welcome party waiting for them, and though Yixing can’t see their faces at the moment because they are already bowing deeply to Sehun, Yixing recognizes them immediately. The three big bosses, the major shareholders of the pleasure house, and slightly behind them, Kyungsoo. Yixing begins to bow back, a reflex action ingrained after years of bowing at the men before him, but Sehun’s hand shoots out, his fingers tightening around his wrist in warning. Yixing straightens up, and Sehun slips his hand into Yixing’s. It is a simple gesture, but the way Sehun holds his hand, like the way he would hold the hand of his boyfriend, sends out a clear message to the pleasure house entourage: _I don’t care what Yixing was to you in the past, but he’s with me now, and that makes him higher in social status than you._

 

Yixing’s old masters are fawning over Sehun, trying to engage him in small talk, but Sehun ignores them, merely following in silence as Kyungsoo leads the way in. In order to defuse the awkwardness of the situation, Yixing replies on Sehun’s behalf, though it’s inwardly uncomfortable for him to be making small talk with his previous bosses, their groveling something that Yixing is extremely unused to. Yixing wishes he could talk with Kyungsoo, but it’s not Kyungsoo’s place right now to be making small talk with the client, which is what Yixing supposes he is right now, since he’s there with Sehun, not when his big bosses are there to fulfill this purpose.

 

Yixing has always liked Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo had been the one who had purchased Yixing for the pleasure house all those years ago, and he had been honest when closing the deal. Yixing is well aware that any other handler would have seen no reason to give Yixing a fair deal, twelve-year-old homeless boy that no one cared about, with no adult to see that his legal rights were fairly met. But Kyungsoo had paid a fair price for him, and even played along with Yixing’s lie to his grandmother as to where the money for her medical expenses were coming from, which was definitely way beyond Kyungsoo’s call of duty. Beyond Social Services, Yixing had made up that name on the spot, and Kyungsoo had been kind enough to stick with it. He even visited Yixing’s grandmother occasionally at the hospital on his off days, since Yixing hadn’t been allowed to leave the premises of the pleasure house, bringing her Yixing’s handwritten letters, and lying to her that Yixing was doing well in school and that he couldn’t visit her because he was busy studying. When Yixing’s grandmother had passed away one year after Yixing entered the pleasure house, succumbing at last to the stage-four lung cancer, Kyungsoo had even brought Yixing to her cremation, even though Yixing’s contract had clearly stipulated that he was to cut off all family ties. That had been almost ten years ago. Like Yixing, Kyungsoo had risen up through the ranks. When they had first met, young twenty-two year old Kyungsoo had only been a junior handler, and now thirty-two year old Kyungsoo practically ran the place on behalf of the big bosses.

 

Kyungsoo leads them to the VIP room, where only the most important of guests are entertained. Sehun and Yixing sit on one of the long couches, and the pleasure house bosses sit on the couches that flank theirs. There’s already an array of pastries laid out elegantly on the coffee table, including a pot of coffee and a pot of Korean green tea kept warm by tealights, and a bottle of champagne chilled in a bucket of ice. Kyungsoo asks if he can pour Sehun a drink. Sehun ignores him.

 

“Master Sehun will take peppermint tea, please. A little honey on the side,” Yixing decides for Sehun, anxious on Kyungsoo’s behalf that the pleasure house bosses don’t interpret Sehun’s reticence as Kyungsoo’s incompetence in making a client feel at home. Kyungsoo bows and gives an order to one of the servants hovering on the fringes to brew a fresh pot of peppermint tea for Sehun. As Kyungsoo straightens up from his bow, his eyes meet Yixing’s for a second, and the look speaks volumes, conveying Kyungsoo’s unspoken gratitude to Yixing. Yixing’s heart feels lighter, glad to have done a good turn for the man that had been so kind to Yixing growing up.

 

More awkward small talk ensues, and Yixing is grateful when the peppermint tea arrives. He busies himself pouring out a cup for Sehun, adding the right amount of honey that Sehun likes, blowing on it to cool it down, taking a small sip to ensure that the temperature’s alright, before passing it to Sehun. Sehun takes it without comment, sipping on it, and Yixing can almost feel the tension in the room go down a few notches when Sehun does not express any displeasure over the tea.

 

Kyungsoo waits until Sehun had finished the cup of the tea before he respectfully broaches the question to Sehun, “How may we serve you today, sir?”

 

Yixing has no way of answering this question on Sehun’s behalf, seeing as he has no idea what on earth they are doing here himself. Sehun has no choice but to answer this question on his own. He opens his mouth to speak for the first time since entering the pleasure house.

 

“I wish to purchase a sex slave.”

 

Yixing barely controls his facial expression, fighting to keep the shock off his face. Another sex slave? To serve F4 alongside Yixing? Sehun just confessed his love to Yixing three days ago. He can’t possibly have tired of Yixing so soon. So what’s this about?

 

“Of course,” Kyungsoo replies. “May I ask if you have any preferences, sir? Would you prefer a male or a female sex slave?”

 

“Female.”

 

Yixing is even more surprised. After interacting with F4 for six months, Yixing is pretty sure that Kris, Chanyeol and Baekhyun are bisexual, but he had figured Sehun to be gay.

 

“Any other specifications, if you please, sir? Any particular type that you prefer?”

 

When Sehun doesn’t speak, Yixing answers for him again. “Perhaps you could show us a selection of your best? Master Sehun can choose from there.”

 

It’s another uncomfortable wait before the first selection of girls are brought in. Yixing is pleasantly surprised when it is Jongdae who leads the group of six girls in. Jongdae’s one of Yixing’s two mentors, the other being Junmyeon. Jongdae and the girls bow to Sehun and Yixing, and Jongdae meets Yixing’s eyes readily when he straightens up, his smile warm and friendly, as it always has been. Jongdae’s mere presence in the room instantly relaxes Yixing, and he lets out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding. So what if F4 is acquiring another sex slave? It’s unlikely to affect his own standing in the household, Yixing is confident of that at least, and it’ll just mean that he has someone else to share his masters’ affections, which frankly, can get quite tiring when he has four of them to serve. Really, Yixing should have anticipated this sooner. It’s not uncommon for a single master to have multiple slaves, and with the wealth they have at their disposal, acquiring more slaves is only a matter of time for F4. Yixing glances over the selection of girls Jongdae had brought. Yixing knows them all by name, and he sees that Jongdae has chosen well. They are lovely, exquisitely so, all alabaster skin, long limbs and luscious hair. Everyone in the room waits expectantly on Sehun, eager for his reaction, but he barely glances at them.

 

“Choose one.”

 

Sehun says this to the coffee table, but no one is in doubt that this command is given to Yixing. Yixing looks up at Sehun in undisguised shock, the tension he had let out just a moment ago rising back up at an alarming rate. Sehun just continues staring at the coffee table, and Yixing glances at his mentor instead. Though he doesn’t shy away from meeting Yixing’s gaze, Jongdae’s face is stoic and impassive. There’s no way for Jongdae to communicate any advice to Yixing, not with so many other people in the room. Yixing is on his own here. Yixing scoots over, closing the narrow distance that had been separating him and his master, and nuzzles into Sehun’s neck. Sehun automatically accommodates Yixing’s touch, putting an arm around Yixing and drawing Yixing closer to him, moulding Yixing’s body against his own.

 

“Master Sehun,” Yixing inclines his head upwards and almost breathes the words into Sehun’s ear. “Please…. I don’t understand…”

 

“Kris-hyung, Chanyeol-hyung and Baekhyun-hyung. You know what they like. Choose one that would please them.”

 

Yixing instantly relaxes. He understands what this is about now. Sehun wants another sex slave in the house, so that the other F4 members would pay less attention to Yixing. Yixing wonders if his other masters know that Sehun is doing this. His masters are generally indulgent towards Sehun, but buying a new sex slave is a big decision. The new sex slave would be living under the same roof as them, after all. If Yixing and Sehun were alone in the room, Yixing would ask Sehun directly if he had discussed this with the other members of F4. But with so many eyes on them, Yixing wonders how he can broach the question without making it seem like he is questioning Sehun’s decision.

 

“Perhaps it would be wise to come back another day with Master Kris, Master Chanyeol and Master Baekhyun?” Yixing tries. He burrows into Sehun’s embrace while saying this, keeping his body language submissive. “What if I make a bad choice? I would hate it if I disappointed them, and you.”

 

“Kris-hyung, Chanyeol-hyung and Baekhyun-hyung can’t come today. They’re busy. They said I could choose whoever I liked, just that Baekhyun-hyung said he wants it to be a girl this time.”

 

Now that Sehun mentioned it, Yixing remembers the elaborate prank that Kris had been planning to pull on Geum Jandi today. That must be what his three other masters are preoccupied with right now. Yixing has become somewhat adept at reading Sehun’s moods, and Yixing knows that Sehun wants to get this business over and done with today. Relieved that his other three masters aren’t going to hit the roof when they bring a new sex slave home today, Yixing puts his mind to the task before him. He knows all of the girls, their personalities, their strengths and weaknesses. He almost immediately decides on Taeyeon. She’s got the small slender frame that Kris favours, but also curves in the right places that would excite Chanyeol, and the playful, flirty demeanor that would interest Baekhyun. But Yixing quickly decides it’s not to his favour to decide so quickly. It would make him seem overly familiar with the girls in front of him. The last thing he wants is to have Sehun suspect that he had a thing going on with them before he had been bought by Kris. Yixing decides it’s safer to follow the standard protocol that all buyers usually go through, for appearance’s sake.

 

“We’ll like to interview them, one by one,” Yixing says to Kyungsoo. “In private, please,” he adds at an afterthought, as a form of consideration to the girls. Sex slaves are usually required to strip so that their potential masters can inspect them, and Yixing is certain that the girls would prefer it if there isn’t a roomful of men ogling at them when this happens. The pleasure house bosses make their exit at last, much to Yixing’s relief, but he is sad when Jongdae exits the room together with them. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to speak a word to Jongdae. As he exits, Jongdae meets Yixing’s eyes one more time, and Yixing can tell his mentor is proud of him, approving of the way Yixing has handled Sehun. Only Kyungsoo remains behind, as according to the protocol of the pleasure house. Until the sex slave has been paid for, they remain valuable property of the pleasure house, and a staff always stays behind to make sure their property is not damaged by drunk and overeager potential buyers who may or may not pay for them in the end.

 

The girls are brought in one by one, and Yixing asks them the standard questions, like what they think their strengths in bed are, and if they have any special talents. Taeyeon talks about her singing ability, and though Yixing has heard her sing many times before and knows that Taeyeon does have solid talent in this aspect, Yixing asks her to sing anyway, and even Sehun looks impressed when she’s done. Yixing asks all of the girls to strip. Though he has known the girls for years, he has never seen them naked before, the pleasure house being very strict that their male sex slaves have no opportunity at all to defile the female sex slaves, so Yixing really does need to see Taeyeon naked before he decides to present her to his masters. He needs to be sure that Taeyeon does look every bit as good naked as her barely clothed body suggests she would, and it’s going to be suspicious if he asks only Taeyeon to strip and not the others. Yixing knows that he is treading on dangerous ground with Sehun here. Yixing keeps himself firmly glued to Sehun’s side, visually examining the girls from a distance, careful to keep his expression purely clinical. Taeyeon does look flawless in every aspect, and Yixing lets Sehun know his choice after the parade of girls have ended. Sehun accepts Yixing’s judgement without question, and doesn’t even bat an eyelid when Kyungsoo lets him know Taeyeon’s asking price. It’s about a quarter of what Yixing was sold for, but it’s still a substantial amount, equivalent to the price of a high-end apartment in Seoul.

 

The rest of F4 return home to Taeyeon kneeling in her bra and panties. Baekhyun is instantly enamored with her, even more so than he had been with Yixing. Unlike Yixing, who has been treated more or less like an equal, Sehun orders that Taeyeon never wear anything more than her underwear. She’s expected to be kneeling all the time, unless a master says otherwise. She’s not allowed to take her meals with their masters at the table, but takes them in servants’ quarters with the rest of Kris’s household staff. Yixing is inwardly upset with this, though he understands Sehun’s intentions. He wants to highlight that Yixing’s status in the house is special. But this is not the type of life Yixing wants Taeyeon to be bought into. Yixing had wrongly assumed that Taeyeon would be given the same privileges he had. He tried requesting better treatment for Taeyeon, but Sehun quells him with a stern look every time he brings up the subject. Yixing hoped that Baekhyun would stand for up Taeyeon, but his master seems to be extremely turned on by the base treatment of Taeyeon. Yixing can tell Kris and Chanyeol don’t care overly much as to how Taeyeon is treated, content to let Sehun and Baekhyun impose whatever they prefer, so Yixing cannot expect help from either of them.

 

Yixing is upset for Taeyeon, but still, is grateful to have her company. As fellow sex slaves, and they both know what each other is going through, and it’s always nice to have support like that.


	5. Meeting Jandi

Despite Sehun’s outwardly calm demeanor, Yixing can tell that he is uncomfortable. There are too many people around, and crowds make Sehun ill at ease. But this cruise party is thrown by Baekhyun’s older brother, and Sehun is attending it for Baekhyun’s sake. Baekhyun’s brother has booked an entire cruise ship to host all the head honchos of South Korea’s media and entertainment industry for three days and two nights. It so happens that the cruise company that Baekhyun’s brother chooses to book with is Shinwa Cruises, owned by Kris’s family. And it also a stroke of coincidence that F4’s classmate, Geum Jandi, has taken on a winter vacation job as a cleaner on that very same cruise ship. Kris is beside himself with glee at the prospect of being able to torment her over the next few days. Yixing’s pleased to meet Jandi for the first time, after hearing his masters talk about her so extensively. He finds her cute, her brashness and refusal to bow to authority a breath of fresh air in the world that is so tainted by capitalism and materialism. Sehun had invited her to the party tonight, and Yixing finds himself looking forward to meeting her again. Sehun and Yixing are standing at the double doors that lead into the ballroom. Sehun looks hesitant, but allows Yixing to hold his hand and lead him inside.

They are greeted with an astounding crash the minute they walk in. Geum Jandi has just landed unceremoniously on the floor, upsetting a tray of hors d’oeuvres in the process. Though her clumsy accident turns all eyes on her, the real shock factor lies in what she’s wearing. Is that a… Wonder Woman costume? A group of girls are gloating at her mishap, asking her if perhaps she thinks she’s Wonder Woman? Yixing feels a rush of sympathy for Jandi. The girls must have set this up to embarrass her, jealous that she is the girl who holds the affections of Kris. They had probably lied to her that this was a costume party. Yixing is surprised when Sehun immediately steps up and covers Jandi with his jacket. Sehun largely keeps to himself, minding his own business. Yixing has never seen him actively help out another person before.

Yixing helps Jandi to her feet. She looks mortified, refusing to meet his eyes, or Sehun’s. “Come with me,” says Yixing, trying to cheer her up, “We’ll get you all fixed up. Don’t worry. All eyes will be on you later, and for a good reason.”

Baekhyun’s brother has hired a group of sex slaves from Yixing’s previous pleasure house to entertain the party guests. Yixing knows that this means that the pleasure house must have a dressing room somewhere on the ship. Yixing scans the ballroom, and spots Kyungsoo standing unobtrusively at the corner of the room, keeping an eye on the sex slaves who are milling around the room. Yixing leads Jandi across the room to him, and Kyungsoo bows deeply to them.

“Could we borrow the use of your dressing room? We’ll like to borrow a dress for the lady, and get her made up,” Yixing asks.

“Of course.”

Kyungsoo leads the way to the dressing room, assuring them to feel free to make use of whatever they need, then takes his leave. Yixing wishes he won’t be so distant and formal, but appreciates Kyungsoo’s professionalism anyway. Jandi looks around the room with her mouth agape. Racks of designer clothes, accessories, and shoes line the room. Yixing chuckles at her expression. He had the same reaction too when he was new to the pleasure house. Yixing picks out a pale pink dress for Jandi. Using a pair of curling tongs, he quickly tweezes some waves into Jandi’s hair. Then, he dusts some light make-up on Jandi. Not much, just some foundation, lipstick, mascara and eyeliner. Yixing doesn’t know much else. As a male sex slave, he doesn’t need to put as much as make-up as a female one, so that’s the extent of make-up know-how that Yixing is versed in. But light make-up suits Jandi more than heavy make-up anyway, and the end result is stunning, if Yixing may say so himself. Lastly, Yixing picks out a pair of strappy heels of Jandi. He kneels next to Jandi and puts them on for her. “Shoes are very important,” he tells Jandi. “A good pair of heels will bring you to good places.”

Sehun has been hovering near the entrance, waiting for them, so he’s one of the first few people they see when they re-enter the ballroom. Though Sehun is not one to show his emotions, Yixing can tell he looks vaguely impressed at Jandi’s transformation. Jandi blushes when she sees Sehun. She lowers her head and peers up hopefully at him. Yixing chuckles inwardly. It’s obvious that the girl is crushing hard on Sehun. She’s cute, and Yixing decides to help her out. Why not let Jandi create a good memory tonight? After all, a sixteen year old girl has a right to dream. Yixing pushes Jandi to Sehun, saying, “It’s not right for a gentleman to ignore such a pretty lady. Invite her for a dance, Master Sehun.”

Sehun acquiesces to Yixing’s request without any comment, as he usually does for the requests that Yixing asks of him. He holds out his hand to Jandi, and she takes it shyly. Yixing watches them for a while, but when he spots Jongdae in the crowd, he quickly makes his way over to his mentor.

“Jongdae hyung!” Yixing is ecstatic to be able to see Jongdae again. Jongdae looks dapper in his black suit, and artfully tousled ash brown hair. He’s wearing the collar that marks him out as a sex slave, a clear indication to the guests of the party that they can request his service at anytime.

“Yixing,” Jongdae beams at him. “So good to see you again! We’ve missed you at the pleasure house. We’ve talked about you often, wondering how you are. I must say you look good. Well cared for.”

“My masters are kind to me.”

“You serve all four of them?”

Jongdae doesn’t look surprised when Yixing nods. “We guessed as much, from how you interacted with Master Sehun when you came to the pleasure house the other time. And Taeyeon? Does she serve all four masters too? How has she been? I hope she’s doing okay? I don’t see her around today.”

Yixing explains that Taeyeon was meant to come too, but she came down with a bout of flu yesterday, so Master Baekhyun asked her to rest at home instead. And yes, Taeyeon was instructed to serve all four masters too, though it seems Sehun has yet to request her service. The other three masters have though. Baekhyun especially favours her, and deliberately makes Chanyeol jealous from all the attention he showers on her. It’s a game Baekhyun likes to play. Yixing’s mood goes down a little when he explains how Taeyeon’s treatment differs from his own− her having to kneel all the time, having to ask permission for everything, and only allowed to be dressed in her underwear. Jongdae frowns a little as well, “It’s too bad. We’ve had hoped that Taeyeon would be treated as well as you. But then again, such treatment is the norm for most sex slaves, so Taeyeon has naught to complain about. It’s our lot in life. At least, she has you to look out for her.”

“Have you heard anything of Lu Han? I’ve not heard a word since he was sold.”

Jongdae’s face falls, his mood sudden severe. “I saw him last week. I was hired for the night to escort a client to party, and Lu Han was there too, with his master. He… doesn’t look good. He’s lost weight, and you know how skinny he was to begin with. He was covered up in a suit, so it was not like I could see any visible injuries, but when he moved, he looked like he was in pain. And the way the carried himself… he looked so despondent, like all the light had gone out from him. And he was jittery, high strung. Every single movement or statement made by his master put him on edge.”

Yixing’s world was spiraling in darkness. His blood boiled, but he was helpless to do anything but clench his fists in silent fury. His precious, precious Lu Han… … How could anyone do this to him? How could anyone behold Lu Han’s angelic face, and not be filled with the urge to give him the very best that life has to offer, much less abuse him?

“Maybe his master would tire of him soon,” Jongdae comforts Yixing. “Kyungsoo checked it up. Master Jung tires of his slaves quickly. On average, he sells them after a year or so. It’s been eleven months since he bought Lu Han, so maybe he’ll sell Lu Han soon, and hopefully Lu Han would get a kind master then.”

Not trusting himself to speak, Yixing could only nod at Jongdae’s words. They watch the dance floor in silence for a while. To distract himself, Yixing watches Sehun lead Jandi in a waltz. Sehun is the perfect gentleman, dashing as he effortlessly guides Jandi through each step. Jandi looks like she’s on cloud nine.

“You shouldn’t have done that, you know,” says Jongdae gently, interrupting his thoughts.

Yixing looks at Jongdae, uncomprehending, and Jongdae tilts his head to side. Yixing follows his line of sight, and instantly realizes what’s wrong. At the other end of the ballroom, Kris is watching Sehun and Jandi with narrowed eyes, seething with jealousy.

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Yixing tries to defend himself, flustered. “I mean, Jandi was looking so hopefully at Master Sehun, and I thought it wouldn’t hurt for her to have a good memory of tonight. And anyway, Master Sehun poses no threat to Master Kris at all… He’s not into… I mean… He wouldn’t… Him and Jandi… it won’t be possible…”

“But she doesn’t seem to realize this yet, and she’s smitten. To Master Kris, whether Master Sehun likes her back is of secondary importance when she’s acting like this. He wants to be the one dancing with her right now. He wants to be the one she looks at like that. Yixing, I know you’re very close to Master Sehun. But you must remember that at the end of the day, it is Master Kris to whom you belong. You cannot afford to offend Master Kris. If he dislikes you enough, there are many things that he can do to you that no other master can intervene with, because he is the one that legally owns you.”

Yixing hangs his head. He knows Jongdae is right. He feels a rush of gratitude to Jongdae. He has already been sold, so he’s no longer property of the pleasure house. Jongdae has no obligation to continue guiding and advising Yixing, but he does so anyway. Jongdae is a true friend.

“Yixing… there’s one more thing I think I should be highlighting to you.” Yixing looks at Jongdae with rapt attention. “I know that Master Sehun highly favours you right now. That was clear when you visited the pleasure house together. After that visit, Kyungsoo did some research on Master Sehun. It appears he has PTSD?”

Yixing nods, confirming this. Jongdae continues, “People with PTSD tend not to open up to people easily. They only allow a select few to enter their world, and thus, they tend to get very attached to the few they let in. It’s likely that you are the first person that he’s been intimate with, and it’s easy for someone in his kind of situation to latch onto this feeling, and to mistake it for love. But how many people actually find their life partners when they are sixteen years old? Yixing, you must be prepared that he might move on after sometime. We all have to serve our masters to our best ability, but you need to take measures to protect yourself emotionally as well.”

Yixing understands what Jongdae is getting at− Do not fall for Master Sehun. What Jongdae says is along the same lines as his own thoughts anyway. No matter what, falling in love with your master is always a bad idea. Yixing is glad that Jongdae has voiced this, because it’s affirmation that Yixing is on the right track.

“I understand. Thanks for always looking out for me, hyung.”

Jongdae smiles. “Little Xing,” he says, and Yixing beams at the use of his childhood nickname. “We’ll always look out for you no matter what, Junmyeon and I both.”

“Yixing.”

Yixing tears his eyes away from Jongdae. It’s Baekhyun that has addressed him. He’s standing in front of Yixing and Jongdae, together with Chanyeol, Sehun and Jandi. Yixing had been so wrapped up in his conversation with Jongdae that he hadn’t noticed that Sehun’s and Jandi’s dance had ended.

“You must introduce your friend to us,” Baekhyun chirps. “Especially since he’s so cute.”

Before Yixing can speak, Sehun cuts in, “You.”

Everyone turns to Sehun in surprise. It’s unlike him to speak to someone he just met.

“Were there. At the pleasure house. When we bought Taeyeon.”

Sehun is looking Jongdae up and down, and Yixing can tell that though he’s not jealous yet, he’s deciding whether he should be. Yixing quickly steps up to Sehun and hugs him from the front, burrowing his face in Sehun’s jacket. Sehun’s arms automatically reach out to encircle him. Hoping that the gesture was enough to assure Sehun that Yixing is his, Yixing shifts in Sehun’s arms, so that he is not longer front hugging Sehun, but holding Sehun from the side, an arm around his waist, and turns to introduce Jongdae.

“Jongdae is my mentor, together with another senior called Junmyeon. Jongdae has always been very kind to me. He takes care of me like an older brother.”

Yixing relaxes when Sehun seems to accept the explanation. Yixing then introduces his masters and Jandi in turn to Jongdae. Jongdae smiles and bows politely to each of them. Throughout this exchange, Chanyeol studies Jongdae with darkened eyes. Yixing knows Chanyeol well enough to understand that this means Chanyeol is very interested. Baekhyun notices this too, and he immediately moves in on Jongdae on his lover’s behalf.

“If you are Yixing’s mentor, then you are most welcomed to drop by our place at any time. We’ll love to have you over,” Baekhyun smiles winningly at Jongdae, who returns the smile. Baekhyun waves a wait staff over and gets Jongdae a flute of champagne, and compliments Jongdae on his hair, his clothes and his smile.

Yixing adjusts the weight on his feat, a small but natural movement, but while Yixing’s body is still facing Jongdae and Baekhyun, his feet are pointing in Chanyeol’s direction. It is a subtle hint to let Jongdae know that even though Baekhyun is the one flirting with him right now, the success of this service actually hinges on Chanyeol. Jongdae gets the hint immediately. He angles his body slightly towards Chanyeol, giving Chanyeol an unobstructed view of him, and moving in such a way that allows Chanyeol to see him at all his best angles, the way an actor presents his best angles to a camera.

When Jongdae talks about the clubs that his clients bring him to, Baekhyun uses the opportunity to steer the conversation to Chanyeol. “If you like The Humble House, you don’t have to queue next time. Just give Chanyeol a heads up, and he’ll let the bouncer know to bring you in directly. He owns the place.”

“I know,” Jongdae gives Chanyeol his full attention now. He steps into Chanyeol’s space, looking straight into Chanyeol’s eyes. “I’ve seen you around The Humble House before. When you walk through the club, all eyes are on you. Including mine.”

“Oh?” says Baekhyun, smiling encouragingly at Jongdae. “You’ve noticed Chanyeol before today then?”

“Of course, I’ve noticed Master Chanyeol. Our pleasure house is under the protection of the Black Dragon Brotherhood, after all,” Jongdae actually touches Chanyeol when he says this, his hand reaching into Chanyeol’s open jacket and to rest lightly on Chanyeol’s belt.

The Black Dragon Brotherhood is the gang headed by Chanyeol’s father. They are not a legal organisation, and thus don’t own any property or businesses on paper, but everyone knows that the majority of casinos, pleasure houses, and nightclubs in South Korea belong to them. They also deal in illegal betting, loansharking, and drugs. The legal documents say that the three main shareholders of Yixing’s former pleasure house own the place, but off the legal records, they submit a major cut of the pleasure house’s earnings to their immediate superior in the Black Dragon Brotherhood, who then consolidates the earnings of the pleasure house with the earnings of the other businesses under him and submits them to his immediate boss, who in turns submits his earnings to his boss, who then submits it to Chanyeol’s father. This was why Yixing’s former owners fawned so much on Sehun. They knew how close he was to Chanyeol. A word of complaint from Sehun to his hyung, and the three of them would have found their positions replaced overnight.

“In fact, at the end of the day…” Jongdae slides his fingers up and down the side of Chanyeol’s hip.

“I guess we can say that I ultimately belong to…” Jongdae moves forward, closing the remaining distance in between him and Chanyeol.

“You.” Jongdae leans up and whispers the last word into Chanyeol’s ear.

It all happens very quickly. Chanyeol’s hand shoots up to grab Jongdae by the neck, and in a swift fluid motion, he slams Jongdae against the nearest wall. Jandi actually lets out a small scream. Before Jongdae can catch his breath, Chanyeol is already ravishing him, smashing his mouth against his. Baekhyun and Yixing share a smirk, and Baekhyun politely excuses himself and Chanyeol from their company for the rest of the evening, before turning to join his lover and their newly acquired interest of the night.

Sehun, Yixing and Jandi take a walk on the deck of the ship, leaving the hustle and bustle of the party. The night is cooling, the sea breeze is blowing their hair into a mess, and the stars are twinkling overhead. It’s a pleasant night, with pleasant company. Yixing asks Jandi about school, and her family. He’s fascinated by her. He hadn’t had a chance to go to high school, and barely remembers his own parents. They were coal miners and had both died in the same mining accident when he was eight, leaving him in the care of his maternal grandmother, so he’s enthralled by her tales of school and family life.

Sehun excuses himself for a while to go to the toilet, and it’s just him and Jandi. Yixing was about to ask her more about her younger brother, when he notices that Jandi is looking at the series of street poster advertisements hanging on the wall. She’s admiring one particular poster, the one Yixing’s featured on. Yixing ducks his head slightly in embarrassment. He had shot that advertisement two months ago. An upmarket cologne brand was looking for a male celebrity to endorse their new product in Asia. They had already decided on a top-billing Hollywood actor to be the perfume’s ambassador in the west, and they were looking for an Asian face to helm the product in the east. Top entertainment and modeling agencies across Asia were vying for the contract, and naturally Baekhyun’s family had their eyes on it too. Despite the pool of top actors, singers and models under their family’s group of companies, Baekhyun had suggested to his brother that they field Yixing as their candidate.

“When I smelled the cologne, it reminded me of Yixing,” was Baekhyun’s justification. “Yixing suits it perfectly.”

“Whoever heard of a sex slave endorsing a product?” Baekhyun’s brother had said. “The media’s going to have a field day! Even if most of them are owned by us. Not to mention we don’t have a say in overseas media at all. It’ll be a scandal.”

“Exactly,” said Baekhyun, grinning evilly, and his brother had been convinced.

Baekhyun and his brother had brought Yixing to meet the head honcho of the perfume company. The meeting was held in the client’s room at South Korea’s most prestigious six-star hotel (owned by Kris’s family). The meeting was a casual one, though Yixing had been dressed to nines. The client was suitably impressed by Yixing, and by the next day, the contract had been sent to Baekhyun’s brother’s office. Yixing supposed his skill in bed had also helped in clinching the deal. After they had sat in the living room of the client’s suite and chatted for a while, Baekhyun and his brother had discreetly excused themselves to have a drink in the hotel’s rooftop bar, leaving Yixing alone with the client. Yixing had joined them at the bar roughly an hour later, assuring them that things had gone well.

Yixing remembers doing the photoshoot for the advertisement. It had been really fun. When the advertisement came out, the media was in an uproar, as predicted, and Yixing was the nation’s dinner, water cooler and social media conversation topic for weeks, and the cologne broke the client’s own records for fastest sales in a new product across Asia.

“You look really good,” Jandi says sincerely, her eyes shining as she admires the poster.

“We have this poster at the bus stop near our school too,” she continues. “I saw Sehun sunbae there once. He… kissed your cheek. Right here.” She points to the spot on the poster.

Yixing freezes. He does not know to respond to this. Why would Sehun kiss a poster when he has access to Yixing himself? Yixing thinks about all the times that Sehun said he missed Yixing in school, so badly that it hurt. He wonders how far the depths of Sehun’s affections go. Perhaps even further than he had originally thought they did.

“Ever since that day, I really wanted to meet you. I wanted to see the person who could capture Sehun sunbae’s heart. And after meeting you today, I understand Sehun sunbae’s feelings for you. You’re perfect for him.”

She looks so sad when she says this, and Yixing does not know how to respond. Thankfully, he’s spared from giving a reply when Sehun comes back from the washroom, and they escort Jandi back to her room at the servant’s quarters, before retiring for the night. When they reach the privacy of their room, Yixing immediately works on servicing Sehun. He can tell Sehun has been wanting it throughout the duration of the party. However, there’s something off about Sehun today, in how Sehun’s kisses and touches aren’t as passionate as they usually are, in the slight heaviness that laces Sehun’s gentleness. Yixing goes with Sehun’s mood, kissing lightly at whatever expanse of skin is available to him as Sehun leans over him, murmuring endearments and wrapping his legs around Sehun’s waist to draw him in deeper as Sehun thrusts into him. Even after Sehun ejaculates, he doesn’t pull out of Yixing, and they lie there in bed together for a long time, Sehun spooned behind Yixing. Yixing laces his fingers with Sehun’s, and Sehun kisses the back of his neck.

“Do you think I’m selfish?” Sehun says softly.

Alarmed, Yixing turns around to face Sehun. Unfortunately, this means that Sehun’s cock slides out of him, but Yixing really needs to look Sehun in the eye.

“Of course not, Master Sehun! Why would you say so?”

“We saw Jongdae at the pleasure house, but you didn’t even get to say hi to him. I didn’t give you the chance to. It didn’t even occur to me, when we were there, that we were in the place that you had grown up in, and that you might have friends there that you hadn’t seen in a while, and that you might want to talk to them. I should have thought of that, but I didn’t. I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologise for,” Yixing says firmly. “You are my master.”

When Sehun’s pout doesn’t go away, Yixing climbs on top of Sehun to thoroughly kiss it away. It takes a long time to kiss away, so Yixing starts tickling Sehun at the side of his midriff, where he’s most sensitive. To Yixing’s satisfaction, he soon has Sehun giggling into the kisses.

Sehun is smiling now, but he still sounds insecure when he asks, “Yixing, if there’s anything I can do for you, you’ll let me know, right?”

Yixing feels a rush of warmth for Sehun. Sehun’s always so sweet to him. “Of course, I would, Master Sehun. I know I can depend on you.”

Later that night, after both of them have showered, dressed in their pajamas, and are tucked inside the covers, Sehun suddenly sits up in bed.

“What’s the matter?” asks Yixing, sitting up too.

“My earring. It’s gone.”

Sehun is touching his left earlobe, and Yixing can see that his stud is indeed missing. It’s a three-carat blue diamond, worth millions. Yixing and Sehun search the entire room, but don’t find it.

“Forget it,” Sehun eventually says. “Let’s go to bed.”

“Maybe you dropped it at the party. Let me check the ballroom, and the deck.”

Yixing opens the closet, takes out his trench coat and pulls it on. Beside him, Sehun is about to do the same, but Yixing stops him.

“You are already bathed and ready for bed, Master Sehun. Please leave this to me.”

Sehun looks hesitant, but Yixing insistently leads him over to the bed, and tucks him in. He kisses Sehun on the forehead and says, “I’ll be back soon. Don’t wait up for me.”

He takes the emergency flashlight from the drawer and exits the room. The night is cold, the temperature having dipped with the progress of the night, and the sea breeze bites into Yixing’s face as he retraces their steps across the deck. He sweeps his torchlight meticulously to and fro, but is unable to spot the telltale gleam of a diamond. When he reaches the entrance of the ballroom, Yixing is disappointed to find it locked. As he was testing the door, a member of the staff approaches him to ask if she could help him. Yixing explains about Sehun’s missing earring, and she brings him to her manager, who confirms that they have indeed picked up an earring while cleaning the ballroom after the party. He brings the earring out to Yixing, and to his delight, it is indeed the one that Sehun lost. He thanks the manager profusely, making a mental note to let Kris’s mother’s secretary know of the honesty of the cruise ship staff the next time he sees him.

On his way back to his room, he passes by Kris’s suite, and Kris accosts him in the corridor. Yixing is unceremoniously dragged into Kris’s cabin. Kris barely waits for the room door to be closed before he jumps Yixing. Kris pounds Yixing into the door, Kris standing up, Yixing’s legs wrapped around his waist, partly supported by Kris’s hands on his lower back, and partly supported by the door that is against his back. Kris pounds hard and fast, releasing all his pent up sexual energy from being unable to obtain Jandi into Yixing. It is hot and passionate, the polar opposite of the sweet and loving sex he just had with Sehun. Kris looks happier and more relaxed after their coupling, and Yixing is glad to be of service to his master. He kisses Kris lovingly on the lips before taking his leave.

When Yixing enters his room, he realizes that Sehun has been waiting up for him. Sehun has his bedside lamp on, and is reading a book in bed. He doesn’t comment on how long Yixing has taken, or what might have caused Yixing’s delay, but there’s a definitely down turn to the corners of his mouth. He doesn’t look pleased that Yixing has found his earring, but does tilt his head obliging to the side so that Yixing can put the earring on for him. When Yixing goes to the bathroom to take yet another bath, Sehun doesn’t comment on that either, but merely reads the book in silence while waiting for Yixing to get ready for bed. It’s only when Yixing has turned off all the lights and both of them are lying in bed, does Sehun ask, “Who was it?”

“Master Kris.”

Sehun doesn’t say anything in reply. Yixing kisses Sehun on the lips, but Sehun’s pout can’t be kissed away this time. Yixing settles for pulling Sehun into his arms, and rubbing soothing circles on his back, lulling Sehun to sleep. It takes a long time, but eventually Sehun’s breathing evens out, and he melts into Yixing, soft and pliant in Yixing’s arms. Only then does Yixing allow sleep to overtake him as well.


	6. Acquiring Lu Han

It’s a pleasant balmy Saturday evening. Yixing’s attending a party with Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Held at the poolside of a country club, the party’s thrown by South Korea’s top-selling women’s magazine, owned by Baekhyun’s family. Baekhyun’s attending because his older brother expects him to start building up his networks, even though Baekhyun’s still in high school. Chanyeol’s there as his date. Yixing’s obligated to attend too, because he’s the Asian ambassador of the cologne he’s endorsing. It felt a little unreal when Baekhyun handed him the gold invite. It’s the first time Yixing’s has actually been invited to a party on his own account, instead of merely accompanying a master or a client to one. Yixing had asked Sehun if he wanted to go with him to party, but Sehun’s art history exam is on Monday, so he decided to skip the party in favour of studying. Yixing’s glad that despite his wealth, Sehun takes his studies seriously. Yixing knows that Baekhyun had invited Kris to attend as well, but Kris had not been interested. Though Kris was vague about what he would be doing tonight since he won’t be attending the party, Yixing guesses from Kris’s poorly suppressed excitement that he must have scored a date with Jandi.

 

Yixing’s dressed in a full tuxedo, gifted to him by Baekhyun. And of course, he’s wearing the scent that he endorses. He enters the party on Chanyeol’s arm, while Baekhyun escorts his mother in. Yixing likes Baekhyun’s mother. She’s every bit as friendly and sociable as Baekhyun is. Unlike Kris’s mother, she doesn’t give Yixing the feeling that she looks down on him because he’s a sex slave. However, Yixing does see glimpses of an unwavering iron will and shrewd savvy underneath her cotton-candy fluffy demeanour. She’s like Baekhyun in that aspect.

 

Baekhyun’s mother is the centre of attention the minute she walks in, and everyone at the party wants to greet her, and if they can manage it, have a conversation with her and her younger son. More and more people start hovering on the fringes, pretending to make casual small talk with one another as they keep an eye on Baekhyun and his mother, ready to swoop in once their current conversation ends. After a while, Yixing gets increasingly side-lined by the crowd, and eventually he gives up trying to stick close to his masters, and starts milling around the party on his own. He makes random small talk with various people who approach him, and obliges the occasional photo requests from starry-eyed socialites who are fans of his. Several of them say that they have supported him since his early days at the pleasure house, and express their disappointment that he has been bought for private use. Yixing even recognises a few clients that he had serviced in the past before. There are a couple of official photographers hired by the magazine roaming the party, and Yixing makes sure that he gets photographed by them too, so that his picture can appear in the magazine’s “Seen & Heard” section, getting the cologne he endorses some media coverage.

 

Yixing is at the buffet table, reaching for the ladle in the bowl of cocktail when his fingers brush against another hand. Someone else has reached for the ladle at the same time.

 

“Oh! I’m sorry, sir! Very, very sorry!” the person apologizes profusely, immediately withdrawing his hand at the contact. But Yixing doesn’t allow him to. Yixing’s hand instinctively seeks to re-establish the connection, reaching out to grab the other person’s hand.

 

His voice. It’s familiar. Yixing hasn’t heard it in a year, but he recognises it instantly. It’s a voice that Yixing will recognise anytime, anywhere.

 

Lu Han.

 

Yixing drinks it his first sight of Lu Han in one whole year. His hair, which had been dyed pink when Yixing last saw him, is bleached blond now, his fringe gelled up, instead of covering his forehead. His eyes are big and sparkly under his long eyelashes, as always. His skin is smooth and clear, like it had always been. Yixing’s eyes travel down Lu Han’s chiselled nose, down the full pink lips, and to his sculptured jaw.

 

Lu Han is beautiful. Perfect.

 

But to Yixing’s horror, Lu Han hasn’t seemed to recognise him yet. He’s looking at the floor, not meeting Yixing’s gaze, and he seems to be in a state of panic. He hasn’t stopped apologising yet. “I’m so sorry, sir! I didn’t mean to! Please forgive me!”

 

“Lu Han,” Yixing cuts into the tirade of apologies. “Lu Han. It’s alright. It’s me. It’s Yixing.”

 

“Yixing?” Lu Han meets his eyes at last. He calms down almost immediately. “Yixing! It’s you.” Lu Han looks so relieved that Yixing wants to cry.

 

What had Lu Han gone through since they had last seen each other, for Lu Han to behave like this? At the pleasure house, Yixing had been the younger, more insecure one, while Lu Han, being one year older, had been the optimistic, reassuring older brother to Yixing. When they were growing up, Yixing had always marvelled at how the small-build and so pretty-it-was-almost-girly Lu Han could be so manly and so protective. The Lu Han in front of him is a far cry from the Lu Han Yixing used to know, and Yixing has so many questions he wants to ask, so many things that he wants to say, that he doesn’t know how to start. He just stares at Lu Han, his emotions swirling like a tornado within him.

 

“Lu Han.”

 

Lu Han literally jumps at the sound of his name. Yixing swivels his head to look at the middle-aged gentleman who has approached them. Yixing instantly recognises him.

 

“Mas… master,” Lu Han stutters in reply.

 

“What are you doing here? Holding hands with another man?”

 

Lu Han wrenches his hand forcefully from Yixing’s grip, as if Yixing’s fingers were burning him. He immediately falls to his knees, his hands clutching the edge of his master’s jacket.

 

“No, master. Please. It’s not like that. Please believe me.”

 

“Are you saying I am blind?”

 

“No, Master. I wouldn’t dare. Master, please.”

 

“You know you’ll be punished for this when we go home tonight, right?”

 

“No!” Lu Han is sobbing openly now. “No! Master, please…”

 

Yixing can’t stand this. Seeing Lu Han like this, with Yixing powerless to do anything, makes Yixing want to die.

 

“Yixing. There you are!”

 

It’s Baekhyun. Yixing has never been so relieved to see Baekhyun in his life. Yixing’s only a sex slave, and is powerless in front of Master Jung, but now that Baekhyun’s here, there’s a shift in the power dynamic. Though Master Jung is older, Master Baekhyun, by virtue of his family, is definitely more powerful than Master Jung.

 

“My precious Yixing,” Baekhyun coos, sliding an arm around Yixing’s waist. “I’ve been looking all over for you. We didn’t mean to leave you by yourself. There were just too many people we had to talk to just now.”

 

“Mr Byun,” Master Jung greets Baekhyun with a half-bow.

 

“Mr Jung!” Baekhyun says brightly, returning the bow. Baekhyun proceeds to compliment Master Jung on the successful acquisition his company had just made, his tone light and conversational, as if there wasn’t a slave currently kneeling at Master’s Jung’s feet, trembling and crying. Master Jung waves Lu Han up to his feet, and Lu Han clumsily stands up. He stands a step behind his master’s shoulder, his eyes red and teary. Master Jung compliments Baekhyun on how well-planned the party is, and congratulates Baekhyun on the high readership of the magazine. He also praises Baekhyun on the beauty of his slave.

 

“Yes, Yixing’s gorgeous, isn’t he?” Baekhyun leans over and deliberately gives Yixing a peck on the cheek in front of Master Jung. The implications are clear. _He is mine and you can’t touch this._

 

“Your slave’s really pretty too,” Baekhyun returns the compliment politely.

 

“Lu Han? Yeah, I suppose he’s rather pretty, especially when he cries. Gets boring after a while though.”

 

“Which pleasure house did you buy him from?”

 

“The Roselle.”

 

“Oh, but that’s the same pleasure house that Yixing’s from!” Baekhyun turns to Yixing. “Does this mean you and Lu Han know each other?”

 

“Lu Han entered the pleasure house a year before me. We grew up together, so we’re friends,” Yixing says carefully, not wanting to get Lu Han into further trouble with his master.

 

“The Roselle’s highly famed for the skill of their sex slaves. Yixing’s a living testimony to that,” Baekhyun says, winking flirtatiously at Yixing. “I’m sure you must find Lu Han pleasing as well?”

 

“Well, he was at first. But after a while, his reactions are all the same. The same old crying and grovelling. Nothing new. I’m thinking of selling him, actually. If you know of anyone looking for a sex slave, let me know.”

 

Yixing’s heart races. He immediately turns to Baekhyun, hope and desperation pouring out of him in waves. Baekhyun’s expression does not change. He remains smiley and light-hearted, but his hand, which is still on Yixing’s waist, gently caresses Yixing, rubbing up and down a little, a comforting gesture, and Yixing knows his master has understood his unspoken plea. Not wanting to be an embarrassment to Baekhyun, Yixing forcibly thumbs down his emotions, struggling to remain calm and placid.

 

“Oh, you’re selling him? I might be interested. He is rather pleasant on the eyes. How much are you asking for him?” Baekhyun says in an offhand manner.

 

Master Jung names a price slightly higher than what he bought Lu Han for.

 

“Deal,” Baekhyun says easily.

 

Yixing almost cries with relief. At this moment, Chanyeol spots them in the crowd and comes over to join them. Baekhyun introduces him to Master Jung. Yixing sees Master Jung blanche a little when he realises the young man in front of him is the heir to the Black Dragon Brotherhood. Pretending not to notice this, Baekhyun casually tells Chanyeol of his decision to buy Lu Han.

 

“You want to buy a new sex slave?” Chanyeol looks a little hesitant. “Shouldn’t we discuss this with the others first? I can imagine Kris would be alright with it, but Sehun might be uncomfortable with a stranger in the house.”

 

Yixing’s heart constricts at the possibility that Lu Han might not be bought by his masters after all. Baekhyun increases the pressure of his grip on Yixing’s waist, a subtle assurance to Yixing that he will handle this.

 

“I’m buying Lu Han,” Baekhyun insists.

 

“You know how Sehun reacted when Yixing first came to live with us. Of course, things turned out well between Yixing and Sehun in the end,” Chanyeol gives Yixing a fond look. “But Sehun took so long to accept Yixing’s presence. Taeyeon’s alright because Sehun chose her himself, but for us to bring Lu Han home just like that? Maybe we should let Sehun meet Lu Han first, let him decide if he would be okay with Lu Han, before we decide whether to buy Lu Han or not.”

 

“I’m buying Lu Han,” Baekhyun repeats. He folds his arms and pouts a little.

 

Chanyeol is immediately putty in front of Baekhyun’s show of displeasure.

 

“You’re buying Lu Han,” Chanyeol concedes, wrapping his arms around Baekhyun and planting a kiss on his temple. “I’m sorry, baby. In fact, let me buy him for you.”

 

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow at Chanyeol’s offer. “How much are you asking for him again?” he asks Master Jung.

 

“Hmmm,” Baekhyun pretends to consider Chanyeol’s offer after Master Jung repeats the amount. “I’ll get this one. You can get the next one that costs as much as Yixing.”

 

Chanyeol barks out a laugh. “No one’s going to cost as much as our Yixing,” says Chanyeol fondly, reaching over Baekhyun to stroke a finger down Yixing’s cheek.

 

Baekhyun chuckles at this, agreeing with Chanyeol’s assessment. “I’ll arrange for Sehun to meet Lu Han first,” Baekhyun yields to Chanyeol now that Chanyeol has conceded to him first. “If he doesn’t like Lu Han, we can put Lu Han up at another apartment.”

 

Yixing knows that Baekhyun must have been planning to do so all along. Baekhyun is just as protective of Sehun as Chanyeol is. Baekhyun just wanted to see if Chanyeol would give in to him first.

 

Baekhyun now turns his attention to Master Jung. “My lawyers will get in touch with yours. I want the transaction to be closed soon. However, I would like to inspect Lu Han on the day of the purchase. I expect to find him unblemished. I don’t believe in buying damaged goods. I might decide I don’t want to buy him after all if I find him spoilt in any way. I hope that won’t be the case though. If I don’t get to buy Lu Han, I will find that extremely disappointing, and I hate being disappointed.”

 

Baekhyun smiles pleasantly as he says this, but to emphasise his last point, he slips his hand into the crook of Chanyeol’s arm, a warning to Master Jung that should he be disappointed, Baekhyun not only has the wealth and influence of his own family, but also the Black Dragon Brotherhood, at his disposal. Master Jung pales a little, and Baekhyun beams brightly, pleased that his point has been communicated effectively to its intended audience. They take their leave from Master Jung. Yixing looks at Lu Han as they leave, hoping to catch Lu Han’s eye one more time, but Lu Han’s gaze hadn’t left the floor throughout the entire exchange.

 

Chanyeol and Baekhyun decide that it’s time to leave the party. The three of them make their way to the car porch, Baekhyun’s mother having taken her leave from the party already. As they wait for their chauffeured limousine, Baekhyun explains his decision to buy Lu Han to Chanyeol.

 

“Lu Han is Yixing’s friend. They grew up together. Master Jung is a cruel master. He has been physically abusing Lu Han. It’s hurts Yixing to see his friend in such a situation.”

 

“Oh, I didn’t know. Of course we’ll buy Lu Han if that’s the case,” Chanyeol reassures Yixing.

 

Tears of gratitude pricks Yixing’s eyes. He sinks to knees in front of his two masters.

 

“Thank you,” Yixing whispers hoarsely.

 

Baekhyun immediately helps Yixing to his feet. “Yixing, you don’t have to do this. You’re like family to us now. We’ll help you in any way we can. Of course, it helps that Lu Han is really pretty.” Baekhyun grins conspiratorially at Yixing. “Trust me when I say I really don’t mind buying Lu Han.”

 

After all three of them slide into the limousine, the chauffer asks if they want to head home. Chanyeol and Baekhyun share a smirk over Yixing’s head.

 

“Nah, the night is still young,” Baekhyun says eyeing Yixing up and down. Yixing feels a shiver travel down his spine. Baekhyun looks like he wants to eat him up. “I believe we have time to check into a hotel for a while, before we go home. Just drive out of the country club first, while I check what hotels there are nearby.”

 

As Baekhyun is busy tapping on his phone, Chanyeol is already reaching out for Yixing, his hands roaming all over Yixing as he French kisses him. On his other side, Yixing can hear Baekhyun calling up a hotel to check if they have available rooms, and instructing the driver to take them there.

 

“You look so hot today,” Yixing hears Baekhyun whisper in his ear, while Chanyeol’s tongue plunders his mouth. Baekhyun licks the shell of Yixing’s ear as he continues, “We should put you in a tux more often.”

 

His voice is low and sultry, full of promises of pleasures to come.

 


	7. Stealing a Kiss

It’s a Saturday morning, one week after the party. Yixing’s in the living room of his home. He stands up. He walks to the window, and peers out through the glass. No car at the driveway yet. He walks back to couch. He sits down. He crosses his legs. Uncrosses them. Stands up. Walks to the window. Still no car. Walks to the other side of the room, shaking his head. Back to the window. Then back to couch. Sits down. Stands up.

 

Taeyeon clears her throat. The unexpected sound draws Yixing’s eyes to her. She’s kneeling on the floor, clad in a bright red lacy nightie. Baekhyun has recently allowed her to wear a nightie on top of her bra and knickers. The moment their eyes meet, Taeyeon shifts her gaze to the right. Yixing follows her line of sight, and his eyes rest upon Sehun, seated on the sofa, newspaper in his lap, quietly pouring himself another cup of coffee.

 

Shit.

 

Yixing usually prides himself on being able to anticipate Sehun’s every need, even before Sehun feels a need to vocalise any of them. Yixing can’t remember the last time that he was in Sehun’s presence, and Sehun needed to pour his own coffee. Yixing hastens to Sehun’s side, so that he’s in time to add in the brown sugar cube and warmed milk into Sehun’s coffee for him. Sehun lets his hands drop to his side, allowing Yixing to take over. When Yixing is done, he offers the cup to Sehun, who takes it wordlessly, his head bowed, the corners of his mouth downturned, and his eyes downcast. Yixing feels a twinge of guilt and inwardly chastises himself for neglecting Sehun.

 

“Are you… anxious?” Sehun asks slowly, after a couple of sips.

 

“A little,” Yixing admits, because it would be pointless trying to deny it. “It’s just that, I’m worried for Lu Han. I was wondering if something went wrong with the transaction. Maybe Master Jung decided not to sell Lu Han after all?”

 

Or perhaps Baekhyun and Chanyeol decided that Lu Han was not to their liking after all? But Yixing dares not vocalise this thought.

 

“It’ll be fine,” Sehun says. “He would not dare. To not sell. Because of Chanyeol.”

 

Sehun looks awkward as he says this. Yixing knows that Sehun rarely comforts others. He doesn’t usually care enough for anyone else’s feelings to do so. The only people Sehun probably cares enough about are the rest of F4, but they don’t burden Sehun with their problems. When it comes to Sehun, their main priority is doting on him and protecting him, so he never gets the chance to comfort them. Yixing is touched that in his case, Sehun cares enough to make an effort.

 

“You and Lu Han. Are you very close?”

 

Sehun asks the million-dollar question. It’s probably one that has been bugging him. Yixing chooses his words carefully, looking at Sehun openly and sincerely.

 

“He’s my best friend. We were roommates, growing up. When I first came to the pleasure house, I was terrified. And he took care of me. He always used to look out for me. He’s my hyung.”

 

Sehun nods, mulling over Yixing’s answer. Yixing removes the newspaper from Sehun’s lap, and takes its place. Facing Sehun, he cups Sehun’s face in his hands and kisses Sehun thoroughly. Sehun responds instantly, his lips pressing against Yixing’s eagerly, his hands on the small of Yixing’s back, drawing Yixing closer to him.

 

They are still kissing passionately when the front door opens. Yixing scrambles out of Sehun’s lap. Sehun is reluctant to let him go, but he’s in a good mood now. He smiles at Baekhyun and Chanyeol as they walk in, and Yixing can see that his two masters are pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a smiley Sehun instead of an expressionless one. Chanyeol ruffles Sehun’s hair and Baekhyun tweaks his nose. Then, they move apart to present Lu Han, who had been standing behind them.

 

Lu Han is dressed to impress. He’s wearing a black jacket with gold buttons, with a gray t-shirt underneath, and dark gray faded skinny jeans. His dark clothes and jet-black eyeliner accentuate his platinum blond hair. He’s beautiful. Even more beautiful than Yixing remembered him to be. How is that possible?

 

Lu Han bows to Sehun, and Sehun smiles at him too. Lu Han’s eyes flicker to Yixing, and Yixing’s heart skips a beat. But Lu Han breaks eye contact immediately, looking down respectfully instead.

 

“There’s no need to be so formal, Lu Han. You know Yixing and Taeyeon,” Baekhyun gestures for Taeyeon to stand and come over to greet Lu Han. “And you’ve met Sehun before, when we had drinks together the other day.”

 

Lu Han looks frightened at the prospect of being asked to not be formal, like he doesn’t know how to act otherwise. Yixing’s heart aches. Lu Han never used to be like this. But Baekhyun only laughs, and says, “Awww… you’re so cute. My precious little deer.”

 

“Lu Han, just relax and make yourself at home,” Chanyeol says. “Yixing and Taeyeon will show you to your room, and help you get settled in.”

 

Taeyeon smiles warmly at Lu Han and tucks her hand around Lu Han’s elbow, leading him out of the room. Yixing follows them. As Taeyeon turns to leave, Baekhyun pinches her butt. Taeyeon jumps and squeals, and turns to wag a finger at Baekhyun.

 

Yixing and Taeyeon lead Lu Han to his room. It’s right next to Yixing’s. The servants are in the midst of moving Lu Han’s belongings into the room, and are already helping to unpack his things for him. In the days leading up to Lu Han’s impending arrival, Yixing has been the one to get the room ready. Yixing shows Lu Han where everything is kept. Lu Han and Taeyeon follow Yixing around the room, Taeyeon ooh-ing and aah-ing at what Yixing had painstakingly prepared for Lu Han. The walk-in wardrobe is already filled with clothes selected by Yixing. Yixing shows Lu Han the racks of clothes, arranged neatly in categories from formal to casual, and organised by colour. Yixing pulls out the drawers one by one, where boxes displaying ties, cuff-links and accessories like earrings, bracelets, rings and sunglasses, are lined up neatly, like in a shop display. It’s similar to what Yixing has in his own bedroom. Yixing shows Lu Han the en-suite bathroom next, which is already stocked with toiletries from Lu Han’s preferred brand.

 

“You still like the same brand, right?” Yixing frets.

 

Lu Han doesn’t answer. His head is bowed, and his eyes are swimming with tears. Yixing falls silent. Taeyeon gently asks the maids, who had been busying unpacking the clothes Lu Han had brought with him and hanging them in the appropriate sections of the walk-in wardrobe, if they could come back later. Taeyeon is on friendly terms with them, since they eat their meals together. They nod in understanding, glancing at Lu Han, and quickly exit the room.

 

Taeyeon hugs Lu Han, patting his back comfortingly as Lu Han's shoulders heave with his sobs. “It’s alright, Lu Han-oppa. I know you’ve suffered a lot. But that’s all over. You’re here now, and we’re right here with you. Everything’s going to be okay.”

 

“Lu-ge,” Yixing uses his childhood term of endearment for Lu Han. “You’ve always looked out for me when we were kids. Now’s my turn to look out for you. You’ll be fine here, I promise.”

 

Taeyeon and Yixing stay with Lu Han until his sobs subsides. With a wad of make-up remover soaked cotton, Taeyeon gently removes Lu Han’s smudged eyeliner for him, and touches up his foundation. They go back out in search of their masters, but the butler tells them Sehun, Chanyeol and Baekhyun have left the house, gone to join Kris, who had been having brunch at the horse-riding club with his sister and brother-in-law, here in Korea for a week-long visit. Their masters are likely to spend the whole day there horse-riding. That leaves them free for the rest of the day, so Yixing and Taeyeon bring Lu Han on a tour of the extensive grounds of the manor, taking a long walk in the gardens, and going for a swim in the pool.

 

By the time their masters are back for dinner, Yixing, Taeyeon and Lu Han are waiting for them. Mindful of how important first impressions are, Yixing and Taeyeon have dressed Lu Han in his second outfit of the day. They’ve put Lu Han entirely in white this time, a clean-cut long-sleeved white button-down shirt, with sleek white pants. The shirt is only buttoned halfway up, leaving a large expanse of Lu Han’s chest exposed. A long, silver chain with a pendent in the shape of a tree hangs down Lu Han’s chest, further drawing eyes to it. The all-white ensemble accentuates Lu Han’s platinum blonde hair just as well as the dark tones of his morning outfit had, though in a completely contrasting way. Yixing can tell that his masters are impressed. Their eyes sweep up and down Lu Han appreciatively. The impact is especially noticeable on Kris, who is setting eyes on Lu Han for the first time. His eyes positively light up, and Baekhyun gloats, “Told you he’s cute. I have good taste, don’t I?”

 

Kris just rolls his eyes at him. “What? Don’t I?” Baekhyun turns to Sehun to back him up. “Lu Han’s lovely, isn’t he?”

 

“Hmm? Yes. Lovely.” Sehun responds, but his reply lacks sincerity, seeing as Yixing is the one whom he is looking at. Lu Han only distracted him for a couple of seconds, and his attention is now fully back on Yixing, as it always is. He leans down to greet Yixing with a kiss, and Baekhyun almost throws his hands up in the air in exasperation. He now turns to Chanyeol to validate his assessment of Lu Han, but finds no support there either.

 

“ _You’re_ the lovely one,” says Chanyeol to Baekhyun. “The loveliest of all.”

 

Baekhyun pretends to huff, but Yixing can tell that he’s pleased. They adjourn to the dining room for their meal, Lu Han being allowed the same privilege as Yixing to share their master’s table. Taeyeon departs for the servants’ quarters for her meal as usual.

 

Later that night, Chanyeol and Baekhyun request Lu Han’s service. Lu Han looks terrified, and Yixing tries to calm him down, reassuring him that Chanyeol and Baekhyun are gentle masters. Yixing escorts Lu Han to their room, then makes his own way to Sehun’s room.

 

Sehun visibly brightens at the sight of Yixing. Yixing wonders how he can have that effect on Sehun every time. They lounge in bed together, and Sehun shows Yixing photos of his horse on his handphone. She’s handsome, with a white coat, and Yixing thinks that she suits Sehun well. A white horse to match a prince.

 

“She’s called Rui. I think she’ll like you. Would you like to ride on her?”

 

“Me? But I don’t know horseback riding.”

 

“I’ll hold the reins and walk next to her to lead her, while you sit on her back. It’ll be fine.”

 

Suddenly, Yixing’s phone pings. He has received a summons from Baekhyun and Chanyeol. This is unexpected. For the past few months, no other master has openly requested Yixing’s service in front of Sehun. Sehun’s face turns black. He presses his lips into a thin line, but doesn’t say anything. Yixing gets out of bed, and walks around it to Sehun’s side. He kneels in front of Sehun, next to the bed, a show of penance that he hopes Sehun would accept. Sehun’s hands are clasped tightly in his lap, gripped so tightly that his knuckles are white. Yixing places his own hands around them, and kisses the top of Sehun’s joined hands gently, then rises to answer the summons.

 

Yixing enters Chanyeol’s and Baekhyun’s bedroom. He finds Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Lu Han sprawled on the bed. Chanyeol is the one who still mostly clothed. He still has his bottoms on, though his shirt is unbuttoned, hanging loosely off his shoulders, showing off his toned chest and washboard abs. Baekhyun is clad only in his boxer briefs, the material hugging his slim hips in the most tantalising way. In between the two masters, is Lu Han, lying on the bed, stark naked. Yixing’s mouth goes dry.

 

“My precious Yixing,” Baekhyun calls out warmly to Yixing, who’s still standing at the door. “Come over here.”

 

Yixing complies, and Baekhyun makes space on the bed, next to Lu Han.

 

“Lu Han’s a little tense. I think he’s nervous cos it’s his first time with us. We thought maybe having you here will help him calm him down.”

 

Yixing can see that Lu Han is indeed trembling. He looks like he’s about to cry. Yixing sits on the bed, with his back resting against the headboard. He adjusts Lu Han so that Lu Han’s back is resting against his chest.

 

“It’s alright. I’m right here with you,” Yixing says soothingly to Lu Han. “Don’t you trust me?”

 

Yixing had meant it as a rhetorical question, but Lu Han nods in response. It’s only an unspoken reply, but it warms Yixing’s heart. Yixing gently puts a hand each under the fold of Lu Han’s knees, drawing them upwards, spreading Lu Han wide open. Both Chanyeol and Baekhyun admire Lu Han greedily.

 

“You’re so pretty,” Baekhyun gushes, slipping an oiled finger inside Lu Han.

 

Lu Han whimpers at the intrusion, his whole body tensing up. He clamps down on Baekhyun’s finger, preventing Baekhyun from going in further.

 

“Relax,” says Yixing gently. “Breathe. It’s going to be okay. Master Baekhyun is gentle.”

 

Lu Han takes a shuddering breath, and forcibly relaxes himself.

 

“That’s it,” coos Baekhyun, slipping another finger in. “You’re doing so well, Lu Han. My pretty boy.”

 

Yixing’s hand strays towards Lu Han’s cock. He pauses just shy of touching it, looking at Baekhyun to see if he would permit it. Baekhyun smiles, giving Yixing the go-ahead, and Yixing wraps his fingers delicately over Lu Han’s cock, gently cradling it, rubbing it, coaxing it to hardness. Chanyeol leans down and kisses Lu Han gently. Yixing has never seen Chanyeol so gentle before.

 

“You’re so beautiful,” he praises Lu Han in between kisses, cradling Lu Han’s cheek in the palm of his hand, his hair tickling Yixing’s jaw as he kisses Lu Han, who still has his head on Yixing’s shoulder.

 

Baekhyun decides that he had sufficiently prepared Lu Han. He sheds off his underwear, and positions his cock at Lu Han’s entrance. Lu Han, engrossed in kissing Chanyeol, is still unaware of this. Yixing tightens his one-armed hug over Lu Han, quickening his strokes on Lu Han’s cock, bracing himself for the moment of Lu Han’s realisation. It comes when Lu Han gasps, breaking his kiss with Chanyeol, turning his face from his master and burrowing it in Yixing’s neck instead. Alarmed, Yixing glances at Chanyeol, to see if he has taken offence. It’s a big taboo for a sex slave to shy from a master’s touch. To Yixing’s relief, Chanyeol doesn’t dwell on Lu Han’s blunder. Instead, he has his eye on Baekhyun now. Baekhyun’s eye is focused solely on Lu Han, like a predator (albeit a patient one) that wants to devour its prey, but behind him, Chanyeol is eyeing him, Baekhyun’s own predator, watching and waiting.

 

Baekhyun enters Lu Han slowly, giving him time to adjust. Behind him, Chanyeol is peeling off his clothes, and drizzling lube on his fingers. Baekhyun is almost fully sheathed in, despite Lu Han’s tension and tightness. He pauses, and bends down to give Lu Han a loving kiss. The kiss has just started when Baekhyun abruptly cries out, involuntarily bucking his hips, thrusting himself fully into Lu Han without meaning to, causing Lu Han to spasm and cry out as well. Chanyeol is standing behind Baekhyun, and one of his fingers has breached Baekhyun’s own entrance.

 

Baekhyun turns around to glare at Chanyeol with mock anger, but Chanyeol leans down and kisses Baekhyun’s indignant look away. Baekhyun turns back to Lu Han, showering all his attention on him, moving slowly and gently, kissing and praising him for his beauty and his tightness. All the while, Chanyeol finger fucks Baekhyun in tandem with Baekhyun’s own thrusts into Lu Han. Meanwhile, Yixing is stroking Lu Han’s cock in tandem with Baekhyun’s thrusts as well. Baekhyun pounds long and hard into Lu Han, and Lu Han is crying out in pain and pleasure, writhing and arching his back, and clinging onto the arm that Yixing has slung around his chest. Yixing’s skilful ministrations has Lu Han spilling his release into Yixing’s hand. But Baekhyun is not done yet, and he continues fucking Lu Han. Yixing lets Lu Han rest for a short while, before he starts playing with Lu Han again, coaxing his member to hardness once more.

 

After Baekhyun climaxes, he withdraws to allow Chanyeol to have a go at Lu Han. Lu Han’s eyes go wide at the size of Chanyeol, and he turns frantically to Yixing, eyes pleading with Yixing to save him. Yixing can only murmur words of encouragement to Lu Han, holding Lu Han’s legs apart as Chanyeol pushes into him, Baekhyun having taken over the stroking of Lu Han’s cock. Tears spring into Lu Han’s eyes, and Yixing and Baekhyun are both quick to soothe him, Yixing whispering endearments and Baekhyun kissing the tears away. Chanyeol thrusts into Lu Han, praising Lu Han for his tightness. He is slow and gentle at first, but before long, he begins to pick up speed. His thrusts make Lu Han cry out and writhe uncontrollably in Yixing’s arms, and Yixing can barely hold him steady for Chanyeol.

 

“You’re too rough, Yeollie,” Baekhyun scolds. “Slow down a little. Be gentle with−”

 

Baekhyun is abruptly cut off when Chanyeol pounces on him, pulling out of Lu Han and tackling Baekyun down onto the bed, silencing Baekhyun with a vicious kiss.

 

“You think I’m too rough? I’ll show you what rough looks like,” Chanyeol almost snarls, pinning Baekhyun down with his hands over Baekhyun’s wrists.

 

Chanyeol pierces into Baekhyun with a single stroke, hard and swift. Baekhyun cries out, his back arching clear off the bed. Chanyeol pounds into Baekhyun, fast and furious, absolutely merciless.

 

“Yixing…” Baekhyun manages to gasp out. “Lu Han… take care of him…”

 

Chanyeol growls, angry that Baekhyun is still coherent, that he can still spare a thought for someone else. He thrusts into Baekhyun with increased vigour. Baekhyun gasps and screams and thrashes on the bed, but there is no reprieve for him. Next to him, Lu Han is doing the same, as Yixing strokes him, hard and fast. Yixing is no longer holding Lu Han from behind, but is kneeling in front of Lu Han in between his legs, pumping his cock furiously with his hand. Next to Yixing is Chanyeol, also in between Baekhyun’s spread legs, fucking him senseless. Lu Han and Baekhyun are wearing twin expressions of pain-filled ecstasy, thrashing about in bed almost in tandem. Lu Han comes first with a cry, his second climax in short succession exhausting him, causing him to fall back on the bed, limp and boneless.

 

Meanwhile, Chanyeol is still going strong. Yixing can see that Baekhyun’s cock is hard again, despite having received no stimulation there at all. Baekhyun got hard just from Chanyeol pounding on his prostrate.

 

“You’re mine,” growls out Chanyeol. “Only I get to do this to you. Only I get to enjoy you like this.”

 

“Yours, Chanyeol. I’m yours.”

 

“No one gets to top you, except me.”

 

“Only you, Chanyeol, only you.”

 

Baekhyun is almost sobbing from Chanyeol’s rough treatment of him, and his repeated assurances to Chanyeol do nothing to make Chanyeol go easier on him. He pounds with steady precision on Baekhyun’s prostrate, and Baekhyun comes with a cry, despite his cock being untouched.

 

By the time Chanyeol comes, Baekhyun is lying comatose on the bed, absolutely wrecked. Yixing has to admit Baekhyun looks beautiful like this, ruined and spent. Chanyeol smirks in self-satisfaction. He adjusts Baekhyun’s position on the bed, so that Baekhyun is lying his side, his back against Chanyeol’s chest. Chanyeol slides his now flaccid cock back into Baekhyun’s hole, and Yixing knows that by morning, Baekhyun would have Chanyeol’s cock hardening inside of him and Baekhyun would probably wake up to Chanyeol ravaging him once again. Well, no one ever said monopolizing the affections of the heir to the Black Dragon Brotherhood was easy.

 

Chanyeol gives Yixing leave to take Lu Han and go, but not before he motions Yixing to come closer for a kiss. “We enjoyed Lu Han tonight. It’ll be your turn next,” Chanyeol promises Yixing after they pull apart. “Baek and I will double stuff you.”

 

Yixing gives Chanyeol a coy smile in response, then bids his master goodnight. Like Baekhyun, Lu Han is dead to the world, so Yixing drapes Lu Han’s shirt over his groin to protect his modesty, before picking him up bridal style. Yixing carries Lu Han back to his own room, then lays him gently on his bed. He wets a towel and wipes Lu Han down, taking special care to clean Lu Han’s entrance, so that Lu Han can sleep comfortably without any stickiness to pique him. Then, he tucks Lu Han under the covers.

 

Lu Han is lying on his bed, his blanket tucked just under his chin, his head supported comfortably by his pillow. Yixing knows that Sehun is waiting for him, his thoughts running wild, torturing himself with images of what he thinks Chanyeol and Baekhyun must be doing to him. He knows that he should not linger, that he should return to Sehun and let him know that neither Chanyeol nor Baekhyun touched him tonight. But Lu Han looks so angelic, Yixing can’t resist. There is no one else around, and Lu Han himself is sleeping soundly, so Yixing figures no one would ever know.

 

Yixing leans down and brushes his lips against Lu Han’s, allowing himself to steal the lightest, briefest kiss.

 


	8. Breaking

Yixing is trying hard to not to come across as unsophisticated, but he’s scared and excited at the same time, and it’s hard to contain his feelings. It’s his first time on an aeroplane, the first time he’s going to another country. They are on Kris’s private jet, on the way to the New Caledonia islands. The Wu Group has an island resort there, on the island of Metro, which they own, and Kris wants to bring Jandi on a holiday there. The rest of F4 naturally come along, since they do almost everything together, bringing Yixing, Lu Han, Taeyeon and Jandi’s best friend, Gaeul, in tow.

 

Yixing’s seated next to the window, marvelling at the view, the clear blue sky and the carpets of puffy white clouds rolling underneath them. They look so comfy and so solid that Yixing feels like he could sit on them. Sehun’s seated on his right, fast asleep, being on a plane having no novelty for him. He’s sleeping peacefully, earbuds plugged in.

 

“He used to sleep all the time, you know,” Kris says softly.

 

Yixing looks at his master, who’s seated opposite him. A quick look around the plane tells Yixing that everyone else is asleep too. Only Kris and him are awake.

 

“Sehun slept up to 15 hours a day. In school, he would disappear by himself for a couple hours, and we would know he was in a quiet spot somewhere by himself, sleeping. Even when we were outside, doing things he liked, like horse-back riding or going to plays or musicals, he would be present for a while, then fall asleep in the corner somewhere. The psychiatrist said that it was a sign of depression, that he was using sleep as an escape. We were worried, but we didn’t know how to help him. Then, you came along, and he just stopped sleeping so much.”

 

Kris gives the sleeping Sehun a fond smile, one that Yixing knows Kris would not have given to Sehun if Sehun were awake. Unlike Chanyeol or Baekhyun, Kris doesn’t show his affections so openly.

 

“You’re doing well, Yixing.”

 

Yixing bows, while seated, and Kris turns his attention back to the magazine he had been reading, and Yixing knows that he has been dismissed from the conversation. Yixing turns away from the window to study Sehun’s sleeping profile instead. Yixing imagines how it used to be for Sehun, him sleeping in his own corner while the world passes him by, and Yixing’s heart aches for his master.

 

They land at Metro, and the island is idyllic, pristine white beaches and waters so clear you could see the coral reefs clearly, even at a distance. Taeyeon, Jandi and Gaeul are beside themselves with glee, squealing as girls do when they are excited. Taeyeon’s dressed in a pretty sundress, her hair done in braids. Baekhyun has given her the permission to dress normally when she leaves the house. Taeyeon had hit it off with Jandi and Gaeul almost immediately, acting like an older sister to the two high school girls. Lu Han trails behind the group wordlessly, keeping his face neutral and his eyes respectfully glued to the floor. Yixing wishes he could be by Lu Han’s side, coaxing him to relax, but Sehun has slipped his hand into his, so he walks next to his master instead. Yixing is relieved when Taeyeon doubles back to loop her arm over Lu Han’s, chatting animatedly with him while pointing out the sights.

 

They reach the resort, and it’s perfect, consisting of luxurious water bungalows built on stilts over the sea. Taeyeon and Lu Han each get their own room, while Yixing’s assigned to sleep in Sehun’s. Yixing marvels at it, the large king-sized bed with pristine white sheets, the bathroom that is fitted with a Jacuzzi, and best of all, the steps that descend from the balcony right into the sea. Yixing slides open the window of their bedroom, and leans out of it, his elbows resting on the ledge, soaking in the view of the endless sea and the infinitely distant sky, the sea breeze caressing his face. He smiles when he feels Sehun’s arms encircle him from behind.

 

“You look happy,” Sehun says, kissing him on the cheek.

 

“This place is beautiful.”

 

“I like it when you are happy.”

 

Sehun’s hands move downwards, towards the zipper of Yixing’s jeans. “I want to take you, right here.”

 

Yixing wiggles his bum backwards into Sehun, mischievously grinding it against Sehun’s groin. Sehun unzips and tugs down Yixing’s pants, letting it pool at Yixing’s ankles, before doing the same for his own. His cock is already hard, poking into the crack of Yixing’s butt. Instead of leaving Yixing to fetch the lube, Sehun pumps Yixing’s cock. Yixing throws his head back into Sehun’s shoulder, shuddering in ecstasy at Sehun’s attentions, and before long, he is spilling his climax over Sehun’s fingers. Sehun uses Yixing’s own cum to prepare Yixing. Yixing moans and clutches the ledge for support as Sehun enters him. Sehun fucks Yixing unhurriedly, his thrusts slow but hard. After a while, Sehun tugs Yixing away from the window, and pushes him down to the bed instead. He climbs over Yixing and kisses him, pushing into him once again.

 

“Don’t you want to admire the view while taking me?” Yixing teases.

 

“I want to see your face,” Sehun answers seriously. “That’s the most beautiful view ever.”

 

Sehun says it with so much sincerity that Yixing feels warm and fuzzy. Sehun bends down to kiss Yixing again, and he doesn’t break the kiss even while he continues thrusting steadily into Yixing. After Sehun comes, Sehun slumps down onto Yixing, and Yixing flips Sehun on his back and climbs on top of him, planting butterfly kiss all over Sehun’s face, praising Sehun on how good Sehun made him feel. Sehun slings an arm possessively around Yixing’s waist, drawing Yixing close to him.

 

“Baekhyun and Chanyeol. They keep pushing Lu Han to me lately.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes. They keep telling me about how good Lu Han is, and asking me if I think he’s pretty too. And they keep giving me opportunities to be alone with Lu Han.”

 

“Don’t you find Lu Han pretty, though?”

 

“Yes, he is. But I don’t want him. I only want you.”

 

Yixing rewards Sehun by kissing him thoroughly.

 

“It’s the same for you, right?” Sehun asks, in a small voice, apprehensiveness written all over his face. “If your circumstances were different? If you had a choice? You would only want me too, right?”

 

“Of course. My heart is yours, Master Sehun.”

 

Sehun beams one of his rare smiles at Yixing, and Yixing knows that he has been a good slave.

 

They find the rest at the beach, lounging on beach chairs and sipping on cocktails. The girls are in their bikinis and the boys in the surf shorts. The sun, sand and sea are glorious. Yixing meticulously applies sunblock on every inch of Sehun, knowing how easily Sehun burns. Gaeul is also helping Taeyeon apply sunblock on her back, but Baekhyun takes the tube away from Gaeul and spreads the white cream all over Taeyeon’s back for her instead. There is a group of Caucasian girls sun tanning on the beach too, they are all topless. Jandi and Gaeul blush as they watch them. Baekhyun tugs at one of the bikini strings tied behind Taeyeon’s back, and the knot gives way easily, the strings unravelling to drop down at Taeyeon’s sides.

 

“Master Baekhyun!” Taeyeon squeals fetchingly, darting away and quickly retying the strings.

 

“But I don’t want you to get tan lines,” Baekhyun asserts.

 

He captures Taeyeon in his arms, and his hand strays to the strings again. Taeyeon quickly leans up to whisper in Baekhyun’s ear, and Yixing knows that Taeyeon is bargaining with Baekhyun, promising special sexual favours in exchange for Baekhyun allowing her to keep her bikini top on. Whatever she proposes seems to please Baekhyun, and he releases her with a smirk, and goes to sit in Chanyeol’s lap instead.

 

After lying in the sun for a while, Chanyeol gets restless so their masters play a game of beach volleyball. It’s F4 vs F4, with Chanyeol and Baekhyun on one side, and Kris and Sehun on the other. It’s an even match, the masters on either side are lean, athletic and skilled. Taeyeon, Jandi and Gaeul sit on the fringe, enthusiastically cheering them on. On the other hand, Lu Han looks disengaged. He sits like a marble statue, studying the sand in front of him. Yixing invites him to go on a walk on the beach, hoping that will cheer Lu Han up.

 

It’s comfortable, walking along the beach with Lu Han, just the two of them. The waves lap against their ankles, and the wet sand is squishy beneath their feet.

 

“Do you remember, the times we sneaked out of our room at the pleasure house, to walk along the lake at night?” Yixing asks.

 

Lu Han smiles, something that Yixing has not seen in a long time.

 

“And do you remember how we went skinny dipping at the lake one night, during the summer when we were 15 years old? Kyungsoo-hyung caught us, and we had to help scrub pots in the kitchens for an entire week as punishment,” Yixing continues.

 

“That was your fault,” Lu Han smiles. “I told you not to make so much noise.”

 

“The lake was so cold! I couldn’t help it!” Yixing protests. “And anyway, I said I didn’t want to go, but you insisted. So it was your fault!”

 

“You couldn’t even take a bit of cold,” sniffs Lu Han. “Loser.”

 

“Hey! Don’t call me that!” Yixing splashes Lu Han with seawater, to emphasize his point.

 

Lu Han splashes Yixing back in retaliation, and soon, the two of them are running around in the shallows near the shore, laughing and splashing each other. Lu Han looks carefree and happy, like how he used to be, and seeing Lu Han like this fills Yixing’s heart with joy.

 

“Yixing! Here, have a drink.”

 

Yixing turns to find Taeyeon holding out a can of diet coke. Smiling, Yixing stops chasing Lu Han, and wades towards Taeyeon take the can from her.

 

The cheerful expression on Taeyeon’s face doesn’t change, but when Yixing’s next to her, reaching out to take the drink, she murmurs to him in a low voice, “Don’t look now, but Master Sehun’s watching you from shore. He doesn’t look happy. Yixing, you need to control the expression you have on your face whenever you look at Lu Han.”

 

Yixing freezes, his heart thumping wildly in panic. Abruptly, he realises he had forgotten to ask his masters’ permission to leave when he took Lu Han for a walk.

 

“Relax,” directs Taeyeon in an undertone. “You cannot afford to look tense or unnatural right now. I suggest that you casually turn around and go back to shore, then seek out Master Sehun and dedicate all your attention on him. Distance yourself from Lu Han, for the rest of today at least.”

 

Yixing forces himself to look relaxed and carefree. He takes a deep swig from the can of diet coke, then chats chirpily with Taeyeon for a while, careful not to pay any further attention to Lu Han, whom Yixing notices out of the corner of his eye is now swimming in the sea. Then, without a backward glance at Lu Han, he makes his way back to shore. As he trudges up from the sea, in the direction of the resort, he naturally encounters Sehun on the way back, as his master is seating on a beach chair waiting for him, the game of beach volleyball having ended already. Yixing smiles at the sight of Sehun, pretending to just notice Sehun there, giving no inkling that he knew Sehun had been watching him. He slides into Sehun’s arms, and kisses Sehun warmly. The kiss does the trick. When they pull apart, Sehun looks happy, and Yixing knows that he’s off the hook. He heaves an inner sigh of relief. Hand in hand, they walk back to their room to freshen up before dinner.

 

Dinner is a grand affair. Kris has pulled out all the stops to impress Jandi. They dine at the poolside, the long table laden with seafood and other delicacies. When everyone has eaten their fill, Kris snaps his fingers, and fireworks shoot into the air.

 

In his peripheral vision, Yixing can see Lu Han’s face light up with glee. Yixing takes heart in this. It would probably be a long journey, but Lu Han is slowly showing signs of returning to his old optimistic self. Sehun slings an arm over Yixing’s shoulder, drawing him close. Yixing faces his master, and Sehun’s face is glowing. Yixing leans up, and Sehun meets him halfway, and they share a kiss under the fireworks. As they pull apart, Yixing’s gaze happens to slide momentarily over Jandi, and she has her eye on them, and Yixing knows that she is not completely over her crush on Sehun, despite Kris’s aggressive pursuit of her.

 

After the fireworks end, Sehun plays a tune on his guitar, and the rest of them drink and chat under the stars. Sehun plays a hauntingly beautiful melody, and Yixing cannot help but feel pride for his master. He is talented in so many ways, but also so vulnerable in so many other ways. Sehun catches Yixing’s eyes when he looks up from his guitar in between plucking the strings, and Yixing knows the song is dedicated to him. Yixing thanks Sehun with a smile.

 

Later, when they are back in the room, Sehun showers first. Yixing waits until he hears the water running, before he quickly slips out of the room. Sehun usually takes about half an hour in the bath. That should give Yixing enough time to quickly check up on Lu Han, and come back. Sehun wouldn’t even know Yixing had been gone.

 

Yixing knows Lu Han would be alone, so it’s safe. He won’t be disturbing any master’s private time with Lu Han. It’s subtle, but at dinner, Yixing noticed that Taeyeon moved slightly more stiffly than usual, and she sat gingerly. Yixing has enough experience with sex toys to know that she must have one inserted into her, either a butt plug or anal beads, a consequence of not taking off her bikini top in the afternoon. Judging from the lewd looks Chanyeol and Baekhyun have been giving her throughout dinner, they are likely to request her service tonight, and not Lu Han’s. With Kris’s mind preoccupied with Jandi, Yixing does not think he would want Lu Han’s service tonight either. Lu Han’s room is only a few huts down from his, so Yixing reaches there quickly. He presses the doorbell a few times, but there is no reply. Yixing starts to worry a bit. If Lu Han is not in his room, where is he? Yixing searches the vicinity, and to his relief he spots a lone figure sitting on the darkened beach, watching the waves rolling in.

 

Yixing settles himself down quietly next to Lu Han, and they sit in companionable silence for a while. Lu Han is a contemplative mood, and his eyes are bright with unshed tears as they watch the waves. Yixing desperately wants to make Lu Han feel better, but doesn’t know what to say.

 

“There were so many times last year, that I thought I couldn’t hold on anymore,” Lu Han’s voice is so quiet, it’s almost as if him speaking did not break the silence, his voice blending in seamlessly with the lapping of the waves on the sand. “I just wanted the pain to stop. I wanted to kill myself.”

 

“No!” Yixing’s voice is high-pitched, panicked and forceful, breaking the tranquil of the night.

 

“I was reaching breaking point, but you saved me. I know Master Baekhyun would not have bought me if not for you. Thank you.”

 

Lu Han’s voice continues to be calm and contemplative, not reacting to Yixing’s panic. Lu Han’s eyes are watery, but the tears do not drop. It is Yixing who is crying silently, beads of tears rolling down his cheeks.

 

“Lu-ge, please tell me you’ll be happy. Please tell me you’re going to be alright. I want nothing more than for you to be safe and happy. I can’t bear to see you hurting. If you’re suffering, I suffer too.”

 

And Yixing can’t stand it anymore. He leans over, and kisses Lu Han full on the mouth. His tears mingle with the kiss, making the kiss taste salty, but the kiss is still the sweetest kiss Yixing has ever had. Yixing pours all the unspoken and unrequited love he had ever felt for Lu Han since they were kids into the few seconds that the kiss lasts, pressing all his love onto Lu Han’s lips.

 

“Is this how it is?”

 

Sehun’s voice cuts into the darkness.

 

Yixing and Lu Han instantly spring apart, scrambling to their feet to face their master. Yixing had completely forgotten that he had to be back his room by half an hour. Sehun must have come out of the bathroom to find Yixing gone, and had come out in search of him. And now Yixing is caught.

 

Lu Han has already dropped to knees, and Yixing follows suit. Sehun is livid. He storms up to them, and strikes Lu Han hard across the face. Lu Han cries out, his head whipped to the side from the impact. Yixing can’t bear it, the sound of Lu Han’s cry of hurt, and he instinctively moves to protect Lu Han from Sehun’s next blow, using his own body as a shield. Sehun’s hand is already upraised. Yixing waits for it to descend, it’s not like Sehun hasn’t struck him before, but the blow does not come. Instead, Sehun slowly lets his hand drop down to his side.

 

The fact that Sehun can’t bear to hit him cuts into Yixing’s heart more than the pain of an actual blow.

 

Wordlessly, Sehun turns to leave. The sight of his back terrifies Yixing. He launches himself at Sehun’s feet, grabbing onto Sehun’s ankle.

 

“Master Sehun, please. I’m sorry.”

 

Sehun wrenches his ankle out of Yixing’s grasp, and stalks away. He doesn’t even spare Yixing a glance. Yixing scrambles to his feet and chases after Sehun. He calls Sehun’s name repeatedly, begging him to stop, pleading for his forgiveness. Sehun’s legs are long, and his speed is fast, Yixing is jogging behind Sehun, desperately trying to keep up. Sehun walking away from him, ignoring him, scares Yixing more than he can say. Yixing always thought of himself as Sehun’s emotional rock, but now, on the cusp of whatever he has built up with Sehun breaking apart, a realisation comes to Yixing. Sehun has been Yixing’s rock too, offering Yixing protection and stability in a sex slave’s uncertain world where one’s fate depends on the fickle affections of a master.

 

“Stop following me.”

 

Sehun turns around to speak to Yixing at last. His voice is choked. Now that he’s facing Yixing, Yixing can see that he’s crying, and his face is filled with pain. Yixing’s heart breaks. How could he have done this to Sehun? Put this look on his face?

 

“Master Sehun, I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” Yixing knows that he is mindlessly repeating himself, but doesn’t know what else to say. He only hopes that his repeated apologies would eventually get through to Sehun.

 

“You lied to me! Everything you ever told me was a lie!”

 

Sehun is screaming now, any semblance of self-control is completely gone now. Sehun sinks to his knees, his legs unable to support his weight, and he clutches the ground in tears. Yixing can’t bear to see Sehun like this. Stoic, elegant Sehun should never be like this. He wraps Sehun in his arms.

 

“You said you loved me, but all along, it’s him you love, isn’t it? You’ve loved him even before you met me. I never had a chance with you, because your heart was already filled with him. Then why did you pretend like you loved me? What am I to you?” Sehun clutches the front of Yixing’s shirt as he questions him.

 

“Master Sehun, you mean everything to me.”

 

“Liar.” Sehun flings Yixing away from him. There was a time when Sehun couldn’t get enough of Yixing’s touch, but now, Yixing’s very proximity is detestable to him. Sehun gets onto his feet, while Yixing’s still lying on the ground from the force of Sehun’s shove.

 

“I loved you with all my heart. I held nothing back from you. I did my best, so that I wouldn’t have regrets. But this how you repay me?”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“I feel… betrayed. Abandoned.”

 

“Master Sehun, if there’s one person I cannot abandon, it’s you.”

 

It’s not a lie to placate his master. Yixing knows in his heart that he’s telling the truth. But Sehun doesn’t believe him, not anymore.

 

He turns and leaves, and his retreating back is the most heart breaking sight Yixing has ever seen. He gives chase, but Sehun has rounded a corner, and when Yixing rounds it too, the path splits three ways. Sehun is nowhere to be seen, so Yixing randomly chooses one, running down the path and calling out for him, but he has chosen the wrongly. Sehun is not on it. Yixing doubles back, and chooses another path, but he doesn’t see Sehun on it either. Yixing doesn’t know if Sehun had chosen the third path, or he is somewhere further along this path, and this route now splits into two. Yixing chooses the right fork, praying and hoping he would encounter Sehun, but he doesn’t. After running along it for some time, he gives up and runs back to his room to grab his handphone. He frantically dials Sehun’s number, but only a dead tone greets him. Sehun has turned off his handphone. Yixing’s heart sinks. He feels like Sehun is lost to him. Yixing runs out of the room again to search for Sehun, but despite running all over the island in the dark all night, he doesn’t manage to find Sehun.

 

The dawn is breaking. Yixing, exhausted from his hours of frantic searching, pauses to watch the sunrise for a while. As he watches the sun ascend in a ball of fiery orange, the magnitude of what he has done, the hurt that he has caused to Sehun, come crashing down on him. As he watches the grey-blue sky turn to gold, he thinks about the gentleness of Sehun’s touches, of how Sehun’s eyes lit up whenever he looked at him.

 

Yixing slowly makes his way back to the resort. He encounters Master Chanyeol and Master Baekhyun at the restaurant, having breakfast with Taeyeon, Gaeul and Jandi. Lu Han is there too, but he’s not eating anything. Their eyes meet, and Lu Han looks frightened. Baekhyun warmly calls out to Yixing, and bids him to sit down and eat. Chanyeol asks if Sehun would be joining them for breakfast soon, or if he’s still asleep. Yixing is spared from answering when Baekhyun cuts in to say that there is no hurry, and that Sehun can sleep in if he wants to. Yixing knows that he should tell his masters that Sehun is missing, but fear makes the words stuck in his throat. Yixing knows that not facing the problem would only make things worse in the end, so he takes a deep breath and Yixing steels himself. He opens his mouth, about to tell his masters that they need to search for Sehun immediately, when he is interrupted by the entrance of Master Kris. He enters the restaurant with a frown, the hotel’s general manager and a bevy of staff following him in. The grave look on their faces tells all present that something is not right.

 

“Sehun is gone,” Kris announces.

 

“Gone? Where?”

 

“Back to Korea. Apparently, he took my private jet and left in the middle of the night. He woke up the pilot and crew, and insisted they fly him to Seoul immediately.”

 

“What?”

 

“Why would he do that?”

 

As if in unison, everyone’s head swivels to look at Yixing. All eyes are on him. Yixing sinks to his knees. Lu Han quickly gets on his knees too, kneeling beside Yixing.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

Kris’s voice is cold. Yixing has no choice but to come clean. Next to him, Lu Han’s face is calm and resigned, ready to take any punishment meted out to them. The blow comes faster than Yixing anticipated. Chanyeol has punched him in the face. Jandi and Gaeul both scream. Baekhyun tries to stop Chanyeol, but Chanyeol is too fast and he sidesteps Baekhyun easily to deliver a kick to Yixing’s stomach. Chanyeol’s father has been training him in the underground fighting pits since Chanyeol was thirteen, and he moves faster than anyone present. Yixing crumples against the wall. Chanyeol moves in to strike again, but Jandi flings herself on top of Yixing, protecting him with her own body. Alarmed, Kris quickly steps in between Jandi and Chanyeol, but Chanyeol has already pulled back, having no intention to throw another hit now that Jandi is in the way. His still form gives Baekhyun the opportunity to fling his arms around him, and his touch calms Chanyeol down. Kris pulls Jandi off Yixing, and Yixing scrambles back into kneeling position.

 

“We need to get back to Korea as soon as possible,” says Baekhyun to Kris, still holding on to Chanyeol. “Sehun is alone, and upset. We need to get to him, and fast.”

 

Kris nods, and turns to his general manager, requesting that he books them on the next available flight. The general manager nods, and also sends the housekeeping staff to F4’s rooms, to pack their luggage for them. Their travel arrangements settled, his masters now turn their attention back to Yixing, who has been kneeling alongside Lu Han.

 

“Yixing,” Baekhyun starts. “This totally isn’t what I had in mind when I bought Lu Han as a favour to you.”

 

Yixing lowers his head in shame. He knows that his masters have been more than kind to him, and that he has repaid them poorly.

 

“Yixing, we are all well aware of Sehun’s obsession with you,” Kris states gravely. “We don’t… exactly approve of it. Though we acknowledge that you have made Sehun very happy, and we are all grateful to you for it, for managing what no one else before you has been able to do, but at the same time, we don’t think that it is healthy for Sehun to be so fixated on a sex slave. That’s why we’ve been trying to push Lu Han onto him. But be very clear on this, Yixing− whatever you have with Sehun, it ends only on Sehun’s terms. It ends only when Sehun tires of you, and not the other way round. You have always been very bright. I never expected to have to state this to you explicitly.”

 

“I understand, Master Kris. I am sorry.”

 

“Were you two lovers, when you were at the pleasure house together?”

 

“No, Master Baekhyun. I admit I liked Lu Han-hyung, but I never spoke to anyone about it, and never acted upon it, until last night. Lu Han-hyung was never attracted to me. He told me about the people he liked, but I was never among them. Lu Han-hyung never even knew I liked him. Last night, I was the one who made the move on him. He didn’t do anything.”

 

It was true. Growing up, Lu Han had many fleeting crushes. At different points in his life, he had crushed on Junmyeon, Jongdae, Kyungsoo, and even several good-looking clients. Despite the variety of Lu Han’s many crushes, Yixing was well aware that they all had something in common. They were all much older and more mature than Lu Han. Yixing had always carried the painful knowledge in his heart that Lu Han had a type, and Yixing did not fit the bill. To Lu Han, Yixing was never more than a little brother. It was part of the reason why he never said anything to Lu Han.

 

“From now onwards, you will put Lu Han out of your mind.”

 

“Yes, Master Kris.”

 

“When we get back to Korea, fix things with Sehun.”

 

“Yes, Master Baekhyun.”

 

“After we get back to Korea, we’ll move Lu Han out to another apartment. You’re not to see Lu Han again, am I clear?”

 

“Yes, Master Chanyeol.” Yixing swallows the lump in his throat.

 

“No,” decides Kris. “Let’s not wait until we get back to Korea. Let’s start separating them from now onwards. Lu Han will not travel with us. He can take the next flight after ours. Taeyeon can accompany him. Lu Han go back to your room now, and stay there, until we leave the resort. Taeyeon, you can go with him.”

 

Jandi starts protesting at this. “You can’t just order Yixing to stop loving someone! Love doesn’t work that way! He’s your slave, but he’s a human being too! You can’t treat him like this.”

 

Kris looks furious at Jandi’s intervention, and the two of them start rowing loudly.

 

“Miss Jandi, please don’t,” Yixing pleads with her, his soft voice somehow carrying through despite the loud shouting. Yixing is grateful for Jandi standing up for him, but he’s already in enough trouble, and he really doesn’t want to add Jandi and Kris falling out to his list of misdeeds. Jandi falls silent at Yixing’s plea.

 

Taeyeon helps Lu Han to his feet, and they leave the restaurant together. Yixing knows that he will never see Lu Han again, but even then, he is too scared to take one last look at Lu Han before he leaves. Instead, he keeps his eyes respectfully glued to the floor, and lets Lu Han pass him by. The sound of the heels of Lu Han’s expensive leather shoes falling on the floor echoes in Yixing’s ears, every step taking him further away from Yixing. Then, just like that, Lu Han is gone. He has walked away from Yixing. Forever.


	9. Living in Denial

When they return home, they are shocked to find that Sehun is not there. The servants say that Sehun had not returned at all. Worry consumes Yixing. His masters look worried too. Sehun’s handphone is still turned off. His masters pile back into car. They are going to Sehun’s family home to check if he’s there. They leave Yixing behind, afraid that his presence might anger Sehun. Yixing has no choice but to wait anxiously. His masters only return late at night. They all look exhausted.

 

“Sehun’s there. He’s alright,” Baekhyun tells him wearily.

 

“He’s very upset though,” Chanyeol adds. “He doesn’t want to see you.”

 

“He has photos of you hanging all over his house. His living room, the corridors, and his bedroom. He's definitely not over you.” Kris tells him, his voice crisp. “I suggest you get over there tomorrow, and beg his forgiveness. Steward Kim will give you the address.”

 

“Yes, Master Kris.”

 

Yixing is absolutely downcast. Baekhyun gives Yixing a peck on the cheek to comfort him. Both Chanyeol and Kris clap him on the shoulder, patting him reassuringly.

 

The next morning finds Yixing at the doorstep of Sehun’s family home. Yixing hadn’t slept a wink the entire night, and could have reached earlier, but Sehun usually wakes up at around 10 am every morning, and Yixing does not want to visit too early in fear of disturbing Sehun. It’s his first time at Sehun’s family home. It’s an elegant looking building, designed in ancient Korean architecture, traditional yet fully equipped with modern-day comforts. Yixing rings the doorbell. A servant answers the door, and lets Yixing into foyer. Once the front door closes, Yixing sinks to his knees at the very spot that he had been standing on, shocking the servant. He doesn’t know how to handle such a scenario. Yixing tells him to let Sehun know he is here. The servant disappears for a while, and comes back to let Yixing know that Sehun has not woken up yet. He politely asks Yixing to come back later, but Yixing requests he be allowed to kneel where he is. The servant fetches the head of Sehun’s staff, an elderly servant with a kind face, and he decides to let Yixing be. He assures Yixing that he would let Sehun know of his presence once he wakes. He instructs the servant who let Yixing in to put a glass of water and some biscuits on the side table near where Yixing is kneeling, telling Yixing to help himself if he wants to. Yixing doesn’t touch them.

 

The servant keeps glances not too subtly back and forth at Yixing and at the photograph of Yixing hanging on the wall near the front door. It’s from the photo shoot he did for the cologne advertisement. Sehun must have gotten the high-definition copy of the photo from Baekhyun. The photograph seems to have been hanging there for a while already. It doesn’t look like a new addition. It blends too well with the rest of the house. And from what Kris told him yesterday, there are more of such photographs around the house. Yixing realises that even though Sehun has been living in Kris’s house with the rest of F4, he must have come back to his family home often enough for him to have the place still fully furnished and fully staffed, and to have bothered to commission photographs of Yixing printed and mounted on the walls. There were times when Sehun left the house on his own, not to go to school or any other place he frequents. Yixing asked him about it before once, but Sehun had been vague in his answer, saying that though he loves his F4 hyungs, he needs some time alone now and then. This is must be the place Sehun goes to be alone. Yixing looks at his own photo hanging prominently on the wall. Yixing takes comfort in the fact that Sehun has not asked his staff to take it down. He still has a place in Sehun’s heart.

 

After kneeling for two hours, the head of Sehun’s household staff finally comes back. He looks apologetic when he informs Yixing that Sehun has woken up, and after being informed that Yixing is here, has requested that Yixing leave. Not wanting to make things difficult for Sehun’s staff, Yixing agrees to go. He gets up stiffly, his muscles aching. Before he steps out of the house, the servant who let him in offers the glass of water to Yixing again, and Yixing drinks gratefully.

 

Yixing steps out of the front gate of Sehun’s house. Through the fence, he can see the traditionally-styled garden. It’s filled with verdant bamboo and well-trimmed bonsais, peaceful and zen. He walks around the perimeter of the house, imagining Sehun in the gardens, sipping tea. Sehun takes coffee in the morning, and tea in the afternoon. He alternates between green tea, peppermint tea and chamomile tea, depending on his mood. Yixing wonders if the servant he saw just now knows how much honey to put in Sehun’s peppermint or chamomile tea.

                                                                                                                         

Suddenly, Yixing hears the strains of a violin playing. Yixing knows in his heart the one playing is Sehun. It’s a sad, mournful tune, one of Sehun’s favourites. Yixing follows the sound of the violin, allowing the song to lead him to its source. After some deliberation, Yixing pinpoints the room that the sound of the violin is emanating from. It’s from one of the rooms in the second storey. Yixing looks through window, but doesn’t see Sehun. He must be standing further inside the room, out of Yixing’s range of sight. The playing of Sehun’s violin stops momentarily, only to pick up again after a split second. Yixing knows that Sehun must have paused to turn a page of the score. Yixing used to turn the page for Sehun, so that Sehun wouldn’t need to pause midway through the song. Yixing doesn’t know how to play the violin, or how to read music scores, but he could tell when it was time to turn the page just from Sehun’s expression and body language. It was proof of well he could read Sehun. The fact that Sehun doesn’t have anyone to turn the page for him right now makes Yixing sad. Yixing chooses a spot on the pavement where a person standing at the window of the room he’s looking at now would clearly see, and kneels there.

 

He kneels there for about half an hour, and he’s already perspiring profusely under the hot summer noon-day sun. The violin music hasn’t stopped throughout the duration that Yixing has been kneeling, and it’s almost as if the music is keeping him company in his vigil. Suddenly, he spots someone standing at the window. Yixing’s heart leaps, but his mood dampens when he sees it is not Sehun, but the servant who had opened the door for him earlier. He’s at the window to draw the curtains, to prevent the morning sun from streaming into the room. His eyes widen when he makes eye contact with Yixing. He quickly completes his task of drawing the curtains.

 

The music abruptly stops mid-song. Sehun is usually very particular about playing pieces in their entirety, and it’s not normal for him to stop halfway. Yixing wonders if the servant is telling Sehun that is Yixing is kneeling on the pavement. Yixing squints up at the window. The curtains are drawn shut. He wonders if Sehun is standing just behind the curtains, peeking out at Yixing through a crack in the middle. Yixing wouldn’t be able to know if he is. He is too far away from the window to make out a crack, if there is one.

 

Yixing checks his watch. The silence lasts for roughly fifteen minutes, then the sound of the violin playing starts again. Yixing wonders what Sehun was doing during the fifteen minutes. Had he been standing at the window, watching Yixing? Sehun has started another song, and it’s as mournful as the first one.

 

After the song ends, there’s another period of silence, before the next song starts. It’s unlike Sehun. Whenever Sehun practises the violin, he goes on a roll, playing song after song, every piece bringing him deeper and deeper into the mood. Yixing wonders if it’s his presence here that is distracting Sehun, if he’s standing at the window looking out at Yixing in between playing pieces.

 

Sehun plays roughly three more pieces, with pregnant pauses in between each song, when his servant comes out to meet Yixing. He passes a bottle of chilled water to Yixing, and holds an umbrella over Yixing to shade him from the sun as he downs the entire contents of the bottle in a single swig. He also offers Yixing a small loaf of bread, and Yixing almost declines it, having no appetite, but he suddenly recognises the bread. It’s the Honey & Walnut Loaf from Sehun’s favourite gourmet bakery. Sehun detests the taste of walnuts, so he never eats this bread. But he always buys it for Yixing, because Yixing loves it. Yixing’s appearance at Sehun’s house is unexpected. Yixing wonders why Sehun would have a supply of this bread on hand at home. Yixing takes a bite of the bread, and after the first bite, he realises how hungry he actually is, and he devours the rest of the bread in record time. Sehun’s servant waits patiently for Yixing to finish, before conveying to Yixing that Sehun wants him to leave. Yixing’s heart sinks as he politely tells Sehun’s servant that he would stay. Sehun’s servant bows and returns to the house. He leaves the umbrella on the ground next to Yixing, but Yixing doesn’t touch it. He continues kneeling under the punishing afternoon sun. His clothes are drenched with perspiration, and his hair is plastered to his forehead. Despite having just drunk a bottle of water, Yixing’s throat is parched again.

 

Sehun starts playing again, and this time is a piece Yixing has never heard before. Yixing wonders if it’s a piece Sehun composed himself. It’s sadder than any of the other pieces Yixing heard earlier. The melancholy tune gives him strength to continue his vigil, as the muscles in his legs start to cramp up, and his vision starts to swim. Then, the music stops and doesn’t start up again. Yixing is left alone is his vigil. Yixing’s last coherent thought is that he should do something to stop the ground from rising up to meet him.

 

Yixing wakes up in a hospital bed of a government hospital.

 

“You’re going to be alright. You’ve just passed out due to dehydration. The doctor put you on a drip.”

 

Yixing looks at the source of the voice. Someone unfamiliar is sitting at his bedside. He’s wearing a police uniform.

 

“We picked you up when we were doing our usual patrol round. We found you passed out at the roadside.”

 

Yixing’s first impression of the man speaking to him is that he’s uncommonly suave and handsome. He has dark, tanned skin, his long fringe falls into his eyes, which are large and almond shaped. He nose is high and straight, and his lips are pink and full. But it’s more than this. The more Yixing looks at him, the more familiar he seems to be.

 

“Jongin?”

 

“So you remember me,” Jongin smiles.

 

Despite his unfortunate circumstances, Yixing is pleased to see Jongin again. Jongin had been his best friend in elementary school. They had lost contact when Yixing got himself sold to the pleasure house.

 

“You’re a policeman, now?”

 

“Just graduated from the academy last month actually. I’m assigned to the local police station. My colleague and I were on our usual daily patrol round when we saw you lying on the pavement. We brought you here, and I stayed with you, while my colleague went back to finish the round.”

 

Yixing’s happy for his friend. He has done well for himself and has bright prospects. For a moment, Yixing wonders if he’s life would have turned out like Jongin’s too, if only his parents hadn’t passed away.

 

“Yixing, are you alright? What happened? Why did you pass out at the roadside?”

 

Yixing does not know how to answer any of Jongin’s questions, so he just looks down at his hands.

 

“Has your master been abusing you? It’s alright, you can tell me. I can protect you.”

 

Jongin has always been a loyal and protective friend. Yixing sees that Jongin hasn’t changed in that aspect. The fact that he knew Yixing has a master even without Yixing telling him shows that he knows Yixing is a sex slave. Yixing supposes that can’t be helped. Yixing had appeared a few times in the papers after all, when he was sold, and when he endorsed the cologne. Yixing feels a slight twinge of shame, interacting with someone who knew him when he was free, but another look at Jongin’s face tells Yixing that only concern is written all over it. There’s no indication on Jongin’s face that he looks down on Yixing for being a sex slave.

 

“I’m fine, Jongin. My master is kind to me.”

 

“If that were true, you wouldn’t be here right now.” Jongin looks disbelieving. “Your master is Kris Wu, right? But why were you found outside Oh Sehun’s home?”

 

It would be too much to explain to Jongin the entire backstory of Kris sharing him with the rest of F4, about Sehun falling in love with him, and Yixing betraying his trust, so Yixing remains silent.

 

After a period of awkward silence, Jongin says quietly, “You used to tell me everything when we were kids. You never kept secrets from me.”

 

That had been true. While Yixing was very sociable and had many friends at elementary school, only Jongin knew that Yixing did not live in a normal house, like the rest of his schoolmates. He lived under an overhead bridge with his grandmother. Yixing remembers living in a rented room when he was very little, but after his parents died, they could not afford the rent anymore. Under the bridge was not the ideal place to live in, but he had everything he needed there, a roof over his head, a mat to sleep on, a small cupboard for his belongings, and a small table to do his homework, and best of all, he had his grandmother there with him. His grandmother collected cardboard boxes and aluminium cans for a living, and Yixing always helped her after school. Sometimes, Jongin helped too. If Yixing had been too busy helping his grandmother and didn’t have to time to do his homework, Jongin had always lent Yixing his homework to copy.

 

“You told me all your problems, and I always helped you with them, up until you found out your grandmother had cancer. That was when you stopped sharing your problems with me. You just took things into your own hands. I said I would try to help to raise money for the medical expenses for you, and I really did try. Though now, looking back, I know I was too naïve, that I couldn’t have managed it. I went to school one day, and you just didn’t show up. The teacher said you withdrew from school. Everyone at school asked me where you were, but I had no answer for any of them. I went to the place you stayed, and everything looked the same. The mats you and your grandmother slept on were neatly rolled up under your study table. I opened your cupboard, and all your clothes and all your things were still there. The portable gas stove was still sitting in its usual corner, and your grandmother still had laundry hanging on a line. But neither you nor your grandmother were there. It was like you disappeared off the surface of the earth. I went back there every day after school, but you never came back. Not even to take this.”

 

Jongin takes out his wallet from his back pocket, and he removes a small photograph from it. He presses the small faded square into Yixing’s hands, and Yixing’s eyes fill with tears. It’s his family photo. His grandmother is there, looking younger than what she looks like in Yixing’s memories. His parents are there, happy, young and smiling. Seven-year-old Yixing is there, chubby and smiling and carefree. Yixing used to sleep with this photo under his pillow every night.

 

“I went to every hospital in Seoul that specialised in lung cancer treatment, until I found your grandmother. When I spoke with her, guess what? She thought you were still in school.”

 

Yixing’s heart races and he looks sharply at Jongin.

 

“I kept up the lie, don’t worry. I told her you were doing well in school, and that you sent me to visit her.”

 

Yixing breathes a huge sigh of relief.

 

“I visited your grandmother as often as I could. Then one day, I ran into another visitor at your grandmother’s ward. He said his name was Do Kyungsoo, and it was only then I found out what had happened to you.”

 

Yixing looks at his hands in his lap. To be honest, he had never considered how his sudden disappearance would have affected Jongin. He was too caught up with worry over his grandmother’s condition, and his own terrifying experience of having just sold his freedom away, of his new status in life as a sex slave.

 

“I’m sorry to have caused you so much worry. I should have told you. But I was so ashamed that I was going to be a sex slave. I didn’t want people to know.”

 

Jongin enfolds Yixing in a hug. “You don’t have to feel ashamed. Especially not in front of me.”

 

Jongin is wearing cologne. To be specific, he’s wearing the cologne that Yixing endorses. A junior police officer can’t possibly make very much, and Yixing knows how expensive the cologne is. It must have been a major purchase on Jongin’s part. He might have bought it with his first paycheck. Jongin lets Yixing go, and settles back into the seat next to the bed.

 

“Yixing, if your master has been abusing you, you can seek police protection. There’s a law that protects the human rights of sex slaves. Yixing, just tell me what is going on. I can help you.”

 

Yixing knows about that law. He also knows that law is an empty shell. It exists only for cosmetic reasons, so that the country can look politically correct, but has no effect in real life. The fact that you can do anything you want with the sex slave you purchase from them is a promise the Black Dragon Brotherhood makes. Any slave that is fool enough to try to make use of that law pays a heavy price at the hands of the brotherhood. In any case, Yixing has not been abused, and has no wish to lodge a legal complaint against any of his masters. Jongin has got it all wrong.

 

“Jongin, I’m fine. I’ve not been abused. You don’t have to worry about me.”

 

“Then what’s this about? Why were you kneeling outside Oh Sehun’s house until you passed out?” Jongin’s frustration is palpable.

 

“It’s more like… a lover’s quarrel.”

 

“A lover’s quarrel? Between you and Oh Sehun?”

 

Yixing nods, and Jongin’s face turns pale. Yixing observes the look on Jongin’s face. He thinks about how well Jongin treated him when they were kids, how frantic Jongin was when Yixing dropped out of his life, of how Jongin kept Yixing’s family photo in his wallet all these years, and how Jongin is wearing the scent Yixing endorses. Yixing has had his own experience with unrequited love for Lu Han, and it is enough for him understand what is going on.

 

“I’m sorry.” Yixing whispers. He hopes Jongin understands what he’s apologising for. Between Lu Han and Sehun, Yixing has no room in his heart for another.

 

“Do you love him?”

 

Yixing considers the question. Sehun himself has asked Yixing this question many times before, though perhaps not so directly. Yixing has always gave an affirmative answer without pausing to really think about it. He felt like there was no other answer he could have given his master. His other masters don’t care whether he genuinely loves Sehun or not, as long as he gives Sehun the impression that he does. But Jongin is not his master, and Yixing doesn’t have to worry about the consequences of his answer. For the first time, Yixing searches his heart before he answers the question. Once, he would have been sure Lu Han was the only one in his heart, but Yixing remembers the look of hurt on Sehun’s face, the sight of Sehun’s turning away from him, the sound of Sehun’s sorrowful violin playing, and Yixing is not so sure anymore.

 

“I care a lot for him.”

 

Jongin nods. His expression is pale, but resigned. He immediately puts aside his own personal feelings, and starts considering Yixing’s best interests. “But Kris Wu is your legal owner? He’s not going to stand for his slave falling for someone else. He might retaliate against you and Oh Sehun. Oh Sehun is rich, but he’s no match for the influence the Wu Group has. Even if you could fix this tiff you have with Oh Sehun, how are you going to protect yourself from Kris Wu?”

 

“Ermm… actually…. Master Kris, know about me and Master Sehun, and he’s alright with it. In fact, he’s the one who ordered that I placate Master Sehun.”

 

Jongin’s eyes go wide at this, and he mutters something about not being able to understand the world of rich men. Yixing laughs. After repeatedly reassuring the doctor and Jongin that he’s feeling alright, and that he would rest well at home, Yixing is pleased to get himself discharged from the hospital. They hail a cab and Jongin sends Yixing backs home. Before Yixing gets out of the cab, Jongin keys his number into Yixing’s handphone, gives himself a missed call, and tells Yixing to stay in touch, and to let him know if he needs any help. Yixing smiles and nods, but in his heart, he knows that he’s never going to call Jongin, not only for Sehun’s sake, but for Jongin’s own good as well. After promising Jongin that he would rest well at home, Yixing enters the front gates of Kris’s mansion, and pretends to walk up the long driveway for Jongin’s benefit. Once Jongin’s cab has driven off, Yixing immediately turns around and walks back out. He waits at the roadside for a while, and manages to hail another cab. When he steps out of the cab, he is back at the front gate of Sehun’s house.

 

Looking upon the house, Sehun seems so near, yet so far. More than anything, encountering Jongin has cleared his mind. Together with his freedom, Yixing has also signed away his self-sufficiency when he was 12 years old. The life paths that ordinary people like Jongin can have are not available to someone like Yixing. Yixing only has one way forward, and that way lies with Sehun. If Sehun would have him back, that is.

 

Yixing walks the perimeter of the fence. There’s no violin playing now. The house is silent. Yixing wonders if Sehun is in, and if he is, what he’s doing right now. Yixing wonders if Sehun knew he fainted. If he did, had he wanted to come out to help Yixing? Maybe he had been on his way out to help Yixing, just that Jongin got there first? Or maybe he hadn’t known at all? Perhaps he had just looked out of his window after some time and found Yixing gone, and assumed that Yixing had left on his own accord. Or maybe he did see fainting, but hadn’t cared. That thought frightened Yixing the most.

 

Yixing returns to the same spot he had been kneeling at earlier that day. It’s as good a spot as any other. Night has fallen, and the spot is illuminated by the street lamp, and Sehun’s staff had seen him there, so that’s where Sehun would look, if he’s waiting to see if Yixing would come back. Yixing kneels there again. The night is cold, and Yixing wishes he had thought to grab an extra coat when he was home just now.

 

Yixing has been kneeling there for hours, when a raindrop splatters on the pavement in front of him. More and more raindrops follow suit, pattering on the pavement, on Yixing’s hair and on his clothes. Then, the rain falls in earnest, soaking Yixing to the bone.  Yixing is trembling uncontrollably, and he can’t stop his teeth from chattering. Yixing thinks about getting up to hide from the rain, but he doesn’t have the energy to. He’s so very tired. He longs for Sehun. He wants Sehun to be the one to find him, the one to carry him to shelter, the one to tell him everything will be alright. He waits, but Sehun doesn’t come. Perhaps he’s never coming. Yixing has had his chance with Sehun, and he had thrown it away.

 

Yixing slumps onto the pavement.

 

The shivers wreck his body.

 

It’s cold.

 

His eyes close, and his world slips into darkness.

 

Yixing blinks at the ceiling. He’s in an unfamiliar bed. But he feels warm. The bed is big and soft. He looks around, and Sehun is there. Sehun is sitting on a chair, next to Yixing’s bed. He’s slumped over, his head cradled on his arm that’s resting at the edge of the bed. Yixing realises that he’s in a hospital, in a private ward. Kris is in the room too, sleeping on the couch against the wall.

 

Yixing stretches out a hand, and rests it on the top of Sehun’s head. Even that simple movement is difficult for Yixing. He feels weak. The gesture wakes Sehun. He lifts his head and peers blurrily at Yixing.

 

“You’re awake!” Sehun springs to his feet, suddenly alert, and he runs out of the room to fetch a doctor. Yixing wished he stayed instead. He doesn’t want a doctor. He just wants Sehun by his side.

 

The doctor comes, with a couple of nurses in tow, and checks Yixing over. The commotion wakes Kris, and he sits up, looking disoriented for a while, before he stands to put a comforting hand on Sehun’s shoulder. The doctor takes Yixing’s temperature, and checks Yixing’s pulse rate and blood pressure. He puts his stethoscope on Yixing’s chest and asks him to take deep breaths to check the clarity of his lungs. He tells Yixing and his masters that Yixing is running a fever, has a cold, and is suffering from fatigue, but is otherwise fine, and would recover soon. He gives Yixing an antibiotics jab, then leaves, the nurses following him.

 

“We’re glad you’re going to be fine,” Kris says. “We were all worried for you. Baekhyun and Chanyeol were here too just now. Sehun was frantic. He’s the one who sent you to hospital. They say he carried you in. Chanyeol, Baekhyun and I took turns to be here, but Sehun never left your bedside.”

 

Sehun blushes, ducking his head. An uncomfortable silence descends.

 

“I’ll leave you two to talk.”

 

Kris exits the room, and it’s just Sehun and Yixing. Sehun sits on the edge of the bed, facing Yixing. Yixing reaches out his hand and places it in Sehun’s. Sehun’s fingers close around his, and Yixing’s heart flutters with joy that Sehun is not shying away from his touch. Sehun speaks first.

 

“I was so scared. I thought I was going to lose you too, like how I lost my parents. I can’t bear to lose you. I don’t what I’ll do if I did.”

 

“You’ll never lose me, Master Sehun.”

 

“I didn’t know you were out there in the rain. If I had known, I would never have allowed it. I saw you kneeling outside my house in the afternoon. But I didn’t know how to face you, so I went to sleep for a while, and after that you were gone. I thought you had gone back home. I thought maybe you’ll come back tomorrow. I didn’t expect you to come back in the middle of the night. I happened to wake up in the middle of the night, and happened to look out of my window. Who knows when you would have been found if I hadn’t?”

 

Sehun looks like he’s about to cry. “Promise me you’ll never do something like this again. Promise me you’ll always take care of yourself. Never, ever treat yourself so callously again.”

 

“I promise.”

 

Sehun reaches out a hand to cup Yixing’s cheek.

 

“You look so pale. It hurts me, seeing you like this.”

 

It hurts Yixing too, seeing Sehun so upset.

 

“Master Sehun. What happened in New Caledonia… I’m sorry. I…”

 

Sehun cuts Yixing off with a vicious kiss.

 

“Don’t,” says Sehun. “Don’t talk about _him_.”

 

“Master Sehun,” protests Yixing weakly, panicking that he might have passed his germs to Sehun. “I’m sick...”

 

“I don’t care.” And Sehun kisses him again.

 

Sehun goes to the door, and locks it. He closes the blinds, so that the window is blocked off. He turns to Yixing, and he’s got that look in his eye. The look that says he’s determined to make Yixing his, no matter what. Yixing swallows. Sehun couldn’t possibly, could he? They’re in a hospital, and Yixing’s not feeling well.

 

But Sehun does peel away Yixing’s hospital pajamas bottom, along with his underwear.

 

“Master Sehun,” Yixing pleads weakly, his throat dry and his voice barely a whisper.

 

Sehun ignores him. He sheds his own pants and underwear, and climbs onto the bed, in between Yixing’s legs. He inserts two fingers into Yixing’s mouth.

 

“Suck.”

 

Yixing does as he’s told, sucking feebly at the digits in his mouth. Sehun removes the fingers from his mouth, and sticks them up Yixing’s entrance. Yixing takes a sharp intake of breath. His mind is fuzzy, his head heavy, and every movement seems to take him longer than usual to do.

 

“Master Sehun, please… We’re in a hospital…”

 

Sehun hard cock breaches his entrance. Yixing gasps weakly. He reaches up towards Sehun, and Yixing doesn’t know what he’s doing, whether he wants to draw Sehun closer, or make a feeble attempt to stop his master. Sehun interlocks his fingers with Yixing’s, palm to palm, and pushes Yixing’s hand back down onto the bed. As Sehun thrusts steadily into him, he leans down and attacks Yixing’s neck. He bites and sucks into it, and Yixing knows that marks are going to be left behind.

 

“Master Sehun, please… People will see…”

 

“I know.”

 

Sehun pounds steadily, filling Yixing, making Yixing whole. When Sehun completes, he slumps down on top of his Yixing, his forehead touching Yixing’s.

 

“I can’t let you go. I tried. I really did. I told myself I could do it, that I could continue living my life without you, that I could let you go, and let you be with _him_. But it hurt so much. I thought of you all the time. I couldn’t bear it.”

 

He pulls out of Yixing, and Yixing almost mourns the separation of intimacy, despite the protests he had made throughout their coupling. Sehun takes some wet tissue from the bedside table, and cleans Yixing up, before dressing himself and Yixing up again.

 

“I’m never letting you go again. I don’t care if your heart is not mine. The rest of you will be mine.”

 

Yixing opens his mouth to reassure Sehun that his heart does belong to him, but Sehun doesn’t let him. He cuts Yixing off with a kiss again, before getting up to unlock the door and going out to find Kris. When he comes back with Kris, all possibility of broaching the subject is gone, so Yixing lets it go. Secure in the knowledge that Sehun is by his bedside, Yixing falls asleep.

 

Yixing gets discharged from hospital a few days later. A couple of days after that, Kris, Baekhyun and Chanyeol talk to Yixing about Jongin. Sehun just joined the Korean Symphony Orchestra as a violinist, and he was out for practice, so the three masters had a couple of hours alone with Yixing to talk.

 

“We were really worried for you, you know, when you got hospitalised. When we said make things right for Sehun, we hadn’t meant it to be at the expense of your own health,” Baekhyun says quietly. “Just so you know.”

 

“Thank you, Master Baekhyun. I’m sorry to have caused you worry.”

 

“We’re glad you’re okay,” Kris says. “And it’s great that things seem to be resolved between you and Sehun. Sehun was really wrecked for the past week. Yixing, we care deeply for Sehun. We don’t want to see him upset.”

 

“I understand, Master Kris. What happened in New Caledonia, it won’t happen again.”

 

“You do know that Sehun checks your phone now, right? And your emails.”

 

“Yes, Master Baekhyun. I gave Master Sehun my passwords, to show him I have nothing to hide from him.”

 

“You had a message from Kim Jongin last night. When you went to the toilet halfway during dinner, when we were dining at the French restaurant. You left your phone on the table. Kim Jongin messaged you. Your phone already had a message history with him, with him asking you if you had recovered from your illness. We thought your reply to him was alright actually, short and to the point, telling him you were okay.”

 

“Yes, Master Chanyeol. I had showed Master Sehun that message, and explained who Jongin was, and asked if it was alright to reply. Master Sehun vetted my reply before I sent it.”

 

“But we don’t think the new message Kim Jongin sent to you last night was appropriate, in the light of your circumstances with Sehun. He asked you out. He wanted to know when you were free to meet up. Sehun read the message, and deleted it.”

 

Yixing is shocked. He had no idea at all. Yixing prided himself on being close enough to Sehun to read his moods, but he hadn’t gotten any inkling at all that anything was amiss last night. Sehun had acted like nothing was wrong. He was starting to hide his feelings from Yixing.

 

“We’ve met Kim Jongin before, actually,” Chanyeol says, and Yixing looks at him in shock. “The day you were hospitalised. Baekhyun and I received a call from Sehun’s butler. He said you had fainted outside their house. They were about to go to your aid when you got picked up a police patrol car. He wasn’t sure how to handle the situation. He couldn’t consult Sehun on the matter because Sehun was sleeping, so he called me. Baek and I deduced that you would be brought to the nearest hospital. We rushed there. When we arrived, we met the police officer who picked you up at the entrance of your ward.”

 

“We thanked him for bringing you in, and we were about to make arrangements for you to be transferred to a private hospital,” Baekhyun continues. “But the young upstart had the gall to deny us entry to see you. He said that we weren’t your legal owners, and had no right to bring you anywhere.”

 

Yixing tries to keep his jaw from dropping. He bows to his masters in apology.

 

“I asked him who he thought he was, and told him to get out of the way.” Chanyeol says. “He told me to go to hell.”

 

Yixing mouth does fall agape this time. For a fleeting moment, he wonders if he should kneel before his masters, but Chanyeol and Baekhyun are both wearing wry grins at the memory, so Yixing surmises that they are not offended.

 

“Unfortunately the little prick did have the law on his side, so we had no choice but to wait for Kris. Kris was having high-tea with his mother, so it took a while for him to come. By that time, you had already been discharged.”

 

“We went home, thinking you’ll be there, but you weren’t. I sent my Black Dragon brothers out on the streets to look for you, but before we located you, we received a frantic call from Sehun, that he found you passed out in the rain.”

 

“Yixing, we are telling you this now, to let you know that we do care for you. That we hadn’t meant to leave you in the lurch.”

 

Yixing bows to his masters while seated, tears prickling his eyes. He knows his masters are kind to him, more than any sex slave could ever hope for.

 

“But this thing with Kim Jongin, we can’t allow it to develop further. You haven’t overstepped any boundaries yet, but we can’t afford to let you.”

 

“We checked Kim Jongin’s background. The last person to have been so rude to Yeollie was this young punk who was the Police Commissioner’s son. He thought that his high-ranking father meant that he didn’t need to give a fuck about the Black Dragon Brotherhood. He was rude to Yeollie at The Humble House, right on Yeollie’s own turf. However, one week later, a reporter from the gossip daily my family owns dug up breaking news about the Police Commissioner. Apparently, he had been having an affair with the lady boss of the company that supplies the IT system to police force. The police force was supposed to have awarded the job to lowest bidder, but this company was charging 20% higher than the next highest bidder, yet they still got the job, all thanks to her special relationship with the Police Commissioner. What a waste of taxpayer’s money, don’t you think? One month later, we met the Police Commissioner’s son again, in one of the smaller bars that Yeollie owns, except that his father wasn’t Police Commissioner anymore. His father had been fired, and was awaiting trial for corruption. He was working part-time as a bartender after school, to help out with his family expenses. He was awfully polite to Yeollie this time round.”

 

Yixing had heard all about the Police Commissioner’s corruption scandal. It had been all over the papers. What he hadn’t know was Baekhyun’s and Chanyeol’s involvement in it. For the first time, he truly appreciates how powerful his masters really are.

 

“So, we were wondering who Kim Jongin’s father was. Perhaps someone more powerful than a police commissioner? A politician, perhaps? Imagine when we found that we were right about his father being a civil servant. Except that he tends to a small neighbourhood park in the suburbs. He waters the plants, and trims them, puts fertiliser on them once in a while, makes sure the toilets are working, and fines people for smoking in the park. One thing stood out from Kim Jongin’s background though. He went to the same elementary school as you. In fact, he was in the same class as you.”

 

“Jongin’s a childhood friend. We lost contact when I joined the pleasure house. I haven’t seen him in years. It was by chance that he picked me up that day. Please don’t do anything to him,” Yixing pleads.

 

“Don’t worry,” Chanyeol says easily. “We’re not going to touch him. Unlike popular belief, I like ordinary, hardworking police officers a lot. I have a lot of respect for them. I like it that they keep the streets safe. Who’s going to go out clubbing late into the night, or gamble until the wee hours morning, if they think that they will get mugged on the way back home? I won’t stand for anyone trying to undermine the authority of the Black Dragon Brotherhood, but if he’s just an idealistic young police officer, with no influence, then that’s okay.”

 

“But for Sehun’s sake, we can’t allow your relationship with him to develop any further.”

 

“I understand, Master Kris.”

 

Kris slides a box across the table towards him. Yixing can tell just from the box that it’s the new handphone model from Shinwa Electronics, owned by Kris’s family. It’s only due to be out in stores next month, and already people were talking about queuing overnight for one. Yixing removes the handphone from the box. It’s beautiful, with a sleek black leather casing instead of the usual metal. It’s fully charged, ready for immediate use.

 

“I’ve signed a new line for you. You have faster internet access and unlimited data usage. This means you have a new number. All your contacts have already been saved in. Except for one.”

 

Yixing doesn’t need to ask whose contact has not been included. He accepts the handphone, thanking his masters.

 

Yixing accepts not being able to keep in contact with Jongin fairly easily. He hadn’t been intending to anyway, just that he feels guilty about dropping out of Jongin’s life with no explanation yet again, without even a polite text back to say he won’t be available to meet up. He hopes Jongin knows that his circumstances as a sex slave means that he has restricted privileges, and would understand. Not being allowed to keep in contact with Lu Han hurts Yixing more, but thankfully Taeyeon is allowed to, and she regularly updates Yixing on Lu Han. She tells Yixing that Lu Han is doing fine. Baekhyun has put him up in an apartment in downtown Seoul. Not living with his masters has given Lu Han a lot of freedom. Kris, Chanyeol and Baekhyun text him beforehand if they want his service, and he waits in the apartment for them if that’s the case, but other than that, Lu Han’s basically free to do anything he wants. Baekhyun gives him a substantial monthly allowance, and Lu Han’s free to pursue his interests in his spare time. He’s taking classes in guitar, piano and singing. Taeyeon says he’s recovering well emotionally, visiting the slaves at the pleasure house often and making new friends in the classes he takes. He seems to be walking out of his traumatic experience with Master Jung, and Yixing’s relieved that Lu Han is on the road to recovery.

 

Things slip back into normal for Yixing. Sehun continues to treat Yixing as the apple of his eye, while his other masters sneak sessions with Yixing behind Sehun’s back. Yixing’s almost tempted to think it’s as if his indiscretion in New Caledonia never happened, but there are certain signs that Sehun still holds Yixing’s betrayal close to his heart, even if he never mentions it. He constantly tells Yixing he loves him, but he refuses to hear Yixing’s reply, either cutting Yixing off with a kiss, or changing the topic, or leaving Yixing’s company immediately so that Yixing has no chance to respond.

 

It takes months before Yixing finally tells Sehun that he loves him. They’ve just had sex, and Sehun’s slumped next to Yixing, in the process of recovering. Yixing whispers it to him. Sehun’s eyes widen a little, and they shine a little too brightly, but he doesn’t try to brush off Yixing’s declaration. He merely smiles and kisses Yixing, and says, “I love you too.”

 

After that, Sehun allows Yixing to say it frequently, and Yixing can tell Sehun revels in each declaration, even if he doesn’t seem to quite believe it, deep down inside.

 

They hold onto each other, master and slave, each dependent on the other. Sehun is Yixing’s protective shield, his association with Yixing elevating his social status to one almost similar to that of a master’s. Yixing is Sehun’s emotional crutch, providing Sehun with love, comfort and a sense of belonging. In this fashion, master and slave face life, with all its uncertain and challenges, together.

 


	10. Letting Go

_Five years later_

 

Master Chanyeol and Master Baekhyun are getting married. The wedding is to be held in Las Vegas, on Chanyeol’s brother-in-law’s turf. Chanyeol’s and Baekhyun’s families are fully supportive of the wedding. They have been wanting an alliance for a long time, and the best way to seal the deal is with a marriage. Only something as serious as a marriage would give both sides the absolute assurance that the alliance is indeed solid, that they can trust the other party not to double-cross them. In fact, Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s older sister had been engaged to marry since they were kids. However, when Yoora grew up, she got swept off her feet by a young and handsome second-generation Las Vegas mafia boss. She eloped with him to Las Vegas, and was going to marry him whether her parents liked it or not. Her father had actually been pretty satisfied with his daughter’s choice for his son-in-law, because it opened up a whole new profitable alliance that he hadn’t even considered before, only that it put him in an awkward position when facing Baekhyun’s family. Fortunately, Baekhyun and Chanyeol hooked up, and the situation resolved itself. Both Chanyeol and Baekhyun are fully aware they have lucked-out, most rich-family-marriage-alliances never result in happy marriages, but in their case, they are genuinely in love with each other, and the mutually beneficial family alliance is but a bonus to them.

 

The wedding is held at a luxury hotel in Las Vegas owned by Chanyeol’s brother-in-law. Kris, Jandi, Sehun and Yixing have just flown in for the wedding. Baekhyun and Chanyeol meet them at the airport, and bring them to the hotel. The hotel is dripping in grandeur, looking more like a palace than a hotel. Yixing marvels at the indoor waterways, and the indoor streets lined with shops. The three couples enter the hotel hand in hand, Baekhyun and Chanyeol leading the way in, Kris and Jandi behind them, and Sehun and Yixing bringing up the rear. Unlike Baekhyun and Chanyeol, Jandi and Kris’s relationship has not been smooth. Their biggest obstacle came in the form of Kris’s mother, who looked down on Jandi’s humble background and considered her to be nothing more than an opportunistic gold digger. But Kris and Jandi persevered and five years later, here they are, still together, walking hand in hand. Yixing supposes the same thing could also be said of him and Sehun.

 

Sehun is in charge of the wedding music, and he had flown the entire Korean Symphony Orchestra to Las Vegas for the occasion. Soon after settling their bags in their hotel room, Sehun goes to oversee the wedding music rehearsal, giving Yixing a peck on the lips, promising that he would join Yixing for dinner, and encouraging Yixing to go out and enjoy himself.

 

Yixing is about to take up Sehun’s offer to go out and explore when he receives a summons from Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Yixing quickly makes his way to their suite.

 

“My precious Yixing,” Baekhyun greets him with a kiss.

 

Baekhyun always greets Yixing in a warm and friendly fashion, but what surprises Yixing is that Chanyeol also greets him with an equally sweet and loving kiss. This is unlike Chanyeol, who prefers to deal it hard and rough.

 

“Do you remember our first time with him, Yeollie? He was so beautiful, I couldn’t believe he was real.”

 

“He’s just as beautiful now. Though he can’t be compared to you.”

 

“I’m in the middle of complimenting Yixing. If you’re not praising Yixing, I don’t want to hear it,” Baekhyun huffs.

 

Yixing smiles seductively at Baekhyun, and climbs into his embrace. It is Chanyeol who strips Yixing, while Baekhyun lies back and enjoys Yixing’s kisses. Baekhyun traces a finger over Yixing’s lips.

 

“When I first saw you at your auction, the first thing that struck me was how beautiful your lips are. I wanted to pull you down from the stage, and make you get down on your knees in front of me, and fuck your mouth. I wanted to see how your lips would look like wrapped around my cock.”

 

Smiling, Yixing continues kissing Baekhyun passionately while slipping a hand into Baekhyun’s pants, rubbing and stroking Baekhyun into hardness. When Baekhyun is so hard he is straining the fabric of his pants, Yixing sensually kisses his way down, slowing peeling off Baekhyun’s clothes for him. He swirls his tongue slowly over the tip of Baekhyun’s hard cock, and envelops it in his mouth, letting his lips slide down its length. While Yixing is sucking Baekhyun off, Chanyeol caresses Yixing’s ass, dipping an oiled finger inside.

 

“For me, what struck me when I first saw you was how tight your ass looked when you danced on stage. I’ve been to many clubs, seen so many people slay it on the dance floor, but no one dances like you, Yixing. I wanted to drag you off the stage, push you down on your knees, and fuck you so hard you couldn’t walk afterwards, much less dance.”

 

Despite his harsh words, Chanyeol is gentle when he inserts himself into Yixing, giving him time to adjust. Yixing is filled from both sides. Chanyeol strokes Yixing’s cock as the thrusts into Yixing, and Yixing bobs his head on Baekhyun’s cock. The three of them complete at the same time, Chanyeol filling Yixing with his cum, Yixing spilling all over Chanyeol’s hand and Baekhyun’s cum spurting into Yixing’s mouth. Yixing swallows Baekhyun’s cum, letting the bitter seed slide down his throat.

 

“You were perfect.”

 

“We’ll miss you, Yixing.”

 

Yixing smiles at his masters. They’re moving out of Kris’s mansion into their own love nest after the wedding. Yixing would miss them, and Taeyeon too. Sehun had given Taeyeon to Baekhyun and Chanyeol as a wedding gift, much to Baekhyun’s delight, so Taeyeon would be moving out with them. Their things are already packed, and the servants are already in the midst of moving all their belongings to their new home while they’re in Las Vegas, so that by the time they return, all their things will be unpacked and ready in their new house. Yixing has heard that Lu Han will be moving in with them as well, together with Xiumin, a new slave Chanyeol recently bought as his wedding gift to Baekhyun. Yixing has never met Xiumin before. He’s not from The Roselle, but from a lesser-known pleasure house, and Yixing wonders what he looks like.

 

“Come and visit often. I’ll be waiting,” Yixing says, dripping with allure, kissing each master in turn.

 

Yixing takes his leave of his masters, knowing that they must have much to do before the wedding. He meets Master Kris and Jandi for lunch. They dine in one of the restaurants overlooking the indoor river. After lunch, they drop off Jandi at one of the nail spas lining the river, so that she can get her nails done before the wedding tomorrow. The manicurist tells them Jandi will be done in roughly an hour. After separating from Jandi, Kris gives Yixing a look, and Yixing immediately knows what his master wants. He snuggles into his master’s arms, and Kris loops an arm around Yixing’s waist as they walk back to the hotel lobby. Instead of heading to one of their rooms, they go to the counter and Kris gets a new room.

 

Perhaps it’s the wedding mood in the air, but Kris is just as gentle and loving as Chanyeol and Baekhyun had been, unlike the usual domineering sex that Kris prefers. He prepares Yixing thoroughly, and strokes Yixing to hardness first, before he thrusts in slowly and unhurriedly, savouring the friction of each thrust, and pausing frequently to kiss Yixing, and stroke his hair, and tell him how beautiful and perfect he is. Aware that such vanilla sex is not Kris’s style, Yixing decides to spice things up for his master. He takes control during the second half of their coupling, flipping Kris on his back and riding him, hard and fast. Yixing can tell this was the right move, as Kris responds well, his face enraptured and his breathing ragged. Yixing climaxes first, and Kris follows almost immediately after. Kris pulls Yixing down into his arms, and they cuddle for a while.

 

“You’re so lovely,” Kris says, kissing Yixing’s dimple. “When I got invited to your auction, I just went to give face to Chanyeol, because The Roselle belonged to his family. I wasn’t really intending to make a bid. Though, before that day, I had heard already about you, just that I didn’t know what you looked like. People were always raving about you when I attended all those socialite events my mother makes me go to. I always rolled my eyes when I hear those mindless rich young boys or girls gush about you. I thought they were exaggerating. No one can be that perfect. Then, at the auction, I saw your face for the first time, and I realised that they didn’t even do you justice. But more than your face, I liked how you interacted with the emcee on stage. You came across as so humble and so cute, like you honestly didn’t know how absolutely gorgeous you are. Then, when I saw you dance, I wanted you. And later, when I heard you sing, I realised that I was going to make you mine, no matter the price. I’ve had you for five years now, and I have no regrets. You are worth every single cent I paid for you, and so much more, because Yixing, you’re priceless.”

 

Yixing is floored. Kris had never said anything so nice to him before. He tries to blink back tears, not wanting to be a sap, but the edges of his eyes are watery, and Kris gently swipes them with his thumb.

 

They get cleaned up and meet Jandi, right on time. Kris greets Jandi with a kiss, and Yixing compliments her on how well done her nails are. Jandi just shrugs and smiles cutely. She’s never been particularly vain. She probably wouldn’t have gone to a nail spa if not for the wedding. She asks what they have been doing for the past hour, and Kris tells her they went for coffee. They explore the hotel a little more, and go on a boat ride in the indoor river, the friendly boatman bursting into song as he rowed. They go to a matinee cirque performance after that. Yixing wishes Sehun could have joined them. He thinks Sehun would have loved the performance.

 

Sehun meets them for dinner, and the happy gleam in his eye tells Yixing that the rehearsal went well. They dine at a Michelin-star restaurant, before retiring for an early night, in preparation for the big day tomorrow. Before they sleep, Sehun asks if any other master requested his service, his usual question if he leaves Yixing’s side for a significant length of time. Yixing is honest with him, but is also quick to work on bringing Sehun his pleasure as well, so that Sehun does not have time to dwell on it. Yixing can tell it’s still on his mind though, from the possessive way he holds on to Yixing, even in his sleep.

 

Both Yixing and Sehun dress to the nines for the wedding. They wear matching light-grey tuxedos, a white dress shirt, and grey vest. Their outfits differ slightly as Sehun wears a bow-tie while Yixing wears a tie, but they’re in same shade of sky blue.

 

They make their way to the pre-wedding cocktail party, where Baekhyun’s older brother and Chanyeol’s older sister are playing hosts. Anybody who’s anyone in South Korea has been invited, and the place is teeming with socialites. A group of retired politicians, who apparently served Sehun’s grandfather when he was in office, come over to talk to Sehun. Yixing can tell from their upturned noses that they despise sex slaves, so Yixing politely distances himself, standing on the fringes of the group, patiently waiting for Sehun to be done with the conversation.

 

Then he hears it. A familiar laughter tinkling across the room. Yixing looks across the ballroom, and over the throngs of people, he sees Lu Han. It’s the first time Yixing is looking upon Lu Han, since New Caledonia. He’s conversing with Taeyeon and another good-looking man, and he’s laughing heartily at something the man said. He looks good, carefree and happy. His stance is relaxed and confident. He’s back to being the Lu Han Yixing used to know at the pleasure house, and this makes Yixing happier than he can say. Lu Han and the good-looking man are wearing matching rose-cream coloured tuxedos, their clothes exact mirror-images of each other. Taeyeon is wearing a gown of the same shade. The three of them are sporting the same cinnamon-red hair colour, though styled in different ways. Taeyeon has hers cascading down in waterfall braids, Lu Han’s fringe is long, covering his forehead, and the fringe of the unknown man is short and spiked-up. Yixing realises the man must be Xiumin. He’s pretty, in an ethereal, elfish sort of way.

 

Lu Han looks up, his bout of laughing over at last, and his eyes meet Yixing’s across the room. Time seems to stand still for the moment that their eyes meet. Lu Han’s eyes have always been expressive, and Yixing reads all of Lu Han’s conflicted emotions in that single look. Delight, to set eyes on Yixing again after so long. Happiness, that Yixing looks well. Apology, for never having loved Yixing in the same the way that Yixing used to love him. Regret, for how their friendship had been forcibly discontinued. And hope, that Yixing would always continue to be well.

 

Lu Han lowers his eyes respectfully, breaking eye contact with Yixing, and this tells Yixing even before he feels the arms encircling him that Sehun is behind him. Sehun hugs Yixing from the back, resting his cheek against the side of Yixing’s head. Yixing leans back into the touch. Sehun’s hug is warm and makes him feel loved.

 

“You can go and talk to him if you want.”

 

Whatever he thought Sehun was going to say about catching him looking at Lu Han across a crowd of people, this wasn’t it. Yixing tilts his head to side, peering up at Sehun, trying to read Sehun’s mood.

 

“I’m serious. It’s okay. I’m…” Sehun hesitates, swallowing before he continues. “I’m not the young and insecure boy that I used to be. You can go talk to him. I won’t get mad.”

 

Sehun’s voice is quiet and determined, and his words are generous, but there’s a slight tremor in his voice, and his hold on Yixing is tight, almost possessive, betraying his real feelings. Yixing smiles fondly. His little Master Sehun is trying his best to be big-hearted and mature and all grown-up, and it’s cute. He leans up and kisses Sehun’s cheek.

 

“I’m fine here in your arms, Master Sehun.”

 

“I have to go though,” Sehun says quietly, shifting his feet, his head bowed. “I have to go to the orchestra now.”

 

“Please go ahead, Master Sehun. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine on my own.”

 

Sehun nods, but doesn’t pull away. Yixing turns to face him, and he can see that Sehun’s face is tense and downcast. Yixing knows that he must be torturing himself, imagining Yixing and Lu Han talking together once he’s gone.

 

“I’m yours, Master Sehun.”

 

Yixing cups Sehun’s face in his hand as he says this. Yixing’s reassurance seems to give Sehun enough confidence to let go. He gives Yixing one last peck on the lips before disappearing into the ceremony hall. Taeyeon comes over, and she chats animatedly with Yixing. Kris and Jandi arrive shortly, and the four of them hang out together. Though Xiumin and Lu Han never look their way again, they seem to have the uncanny ability to somehow make sure they are at the part of the ballroom that is the furthest distance possible from Yixing that the confined space would allow.

 

The ceremony is beautiful. Both Chanyeol and Baekhyun are resplendent, Chanyeol in black and Baekhyun in white. The mothers of the grooms cry as they say their vows, and next to Yixing, so do Jandi and Taeyeon. Yixing finds himself blinking back tears as well. The music is perfect, with Sehun conducting the orchestra to churn out masterpiece after masterpiece. Yixing glances frequently at Sehun as he conducts. Sehun is in his element, and Yixing thinks his look of intense focus is incredibly hot. 

 

After the ceremony, the post-wedding party starts, and the ballroom turns into one big dance floor. The guests party the night away, with the help of copious amounts of free-flow alcohol. The men of the day get dragged up on the raised platform to do a dance routine together. Chanyeol does a rap routine as well, much to the utter delight of the crowd. After their masters step down from the platform, Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s three sex slaves take turns to do dance solos as well, Taeyeon going first, followed by Lu Han, then Xiumin. They’re all in black now, Xiumin and Lu Han in matching tight leather pants and sleeveless black tops that are only halfway buttoned up, and Taeyeon in a little black dress. Then the crowd calls for Yixing to take the stage as well. Yixing ascends the stage and he dances to Two Moons. The reaction from the crowd tells Yixing that he had owned the stage. But the best look of adoration is the one on Sehun’s face.

 

As the party winds down, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Kris and Sehun retire to the balcony outside the ballroom, and it’s just the four them, sitting in the quiet of the night, drinking and talking. In the ballroom, Yixing waits for Sehun, and Jandi waits for Kris, and Taeyeon stays back too, keeping them company. It’s almost dawn when they return to their respective rooms.

 

Yixing and Sehun spend most of the next day in bed sleeping, before they take the night flight back to Korea with Kris and Jandi. Chanyeol and Baekhyun are leaving Las Vegas directly for their three-month honeymoon, bringing Taeyeon, Lu Han and Xiumin with them. Kris had lent them his private jet, and they’ll tour America first, before flying to Europe.

 

When they reach Incheon Airport, it’s already 1 am in the morning, but despite the lateness of the hour and their jet lag, they go to one of the restaurants at the airport to celebrate Sehun’s birthday. When the clock struck midnight, Sehun had turned 21 years old. After the opulence of the wedding, it’s nice to eat a simple meal together, ending it off with a cake and a birthday song for Sehun. Kris gives Sehun a custom-made violin from a world-renowned violin maker, while Jandi gives Sehun a scarf she knitted herself. Yixing gives Sehun a Chinese bamboo flute, as Sehun has recently started to take up this instrument. Sehun wraps the scarf around his neck immediately, and plays a song with the violin on the spot for them. Even the other diners burst into applause after Sehun finishes his piece. Sehun then plays the Chinese flute. Sehun only just starting learning, so he’s not that adept at it yet, so he plays a simple piece, but it’s lovely all the same, and everyone applauds for this piece as well when he finishes. A group of elderly men and women sitting at the next table compliment Sehun warmly on his musical talent, and several of them talk about wanting to introduce their granddaughters to him. Sehun blushes furiously and slips his hand into Yixing’s, while Yixing smiles his dimpled smile at his master, amused at his shyness. Chanyeol and Baekhyun video call, and they wish Sehun happy birthday, assuring him that their presents to him have been delivered and are waiting for him at home when he gets back from his ski trip, but refusing to tell Sehun what the presents are, so as not to spoil the surprise.

 

To Yixing’s surprise, Kris’s secretary meets them at the restaurant, bringing with him two other men in formal business suits that Yixing does not recognise. It must be rough working as Kris’s secretary, if you had to be available at 2 am at night for work. Kris and the three men adjourn to a table at the far end of the restaurant, where it’s more quiet, to talk business, and surprisingly, Sehun joins them as well, leaving Yixing and Jandi to chat over tea. Jandi is currently studying at medical school, and she tells Yixing with a sigh about how she’s fumbling through all her lessons. Yixing smiles fondly at her. She has that happy, infectious energizer-bunny spirit, and he knows Jandi would do just fine. He can imagine her as a doctor already, bringing joy and comfort to her patients.

 

After Kris is done talking business, they get ready to leave the airport. Kris and Jandi are going back to their homes in Seoul, but Sehun and Yixing are driving down to Gangwon-do for a ski vacation. While waiting for their cars, Kris pulls Yixing aside to speak to him quietly.

 

“The ski resort that you are going to, it’s the one that Sehun and his family were heading to when his family met with the car accident. His parents died on impact.”

 

Yixing sucks in a breath.

 

“None of us have any idea why Sehun would want to go there on his 21st birthday, but Sehun refused to be talked out of it. Chanyeol, Baekhyun and I had originally wanted to stay in Las Vegas after the wedding to celebrate Sehun’s birthday, but he threw us a curveball when he insisted on spending his birthday at that ski resort. We offered to come along, Chanyeol and Baekhyun were willing to postpone their honeymoon, but Sehun was insistent that he goes with only you.”

 

Kris sighs, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “Yixing, you’ve always been attentive to Sehun, but do be on extra-high alert for any signs of distress on Sehun’s part. I’ve booked a helicopter and put Dr Won on standby. If anything happens, give me a call, and Dr Won and I can be there in a heartbeat. Don’t call Chanyeol or Baekhyun though. Don’t disturb their honeymoon.”

 

Dr Won is Sehun’s psychiatrist. Yixing nods in understanding, reassuring Kris that he would take good care of Sehun. Kris’s chauffeured limousine arrives, and they say their goodbyes to each other. Yixing can tell Kris is still worried because he hangs onto Sehun a little longer than usual when he hugs Sehun goodbye, and he keeps instructing Sehun to call him when he reaches the resort. Jandi laughs and calls Kris a nag. She peels Kris away from Sehun, jauntily wishing them a great trip, and drags him off into the limousine.

 

Sehun and Yixing get into their own chauffeured jeep. Once they get in, Sehun asks the driver if he’s gotten what Sehun had instructed him to get. The driver holds up the huge bouquet of white roses that had been lying on the front seat next to him. Sehun inspects the bouquet for a while, then hands it back to the driver, who leaves it on the seat again, and they set off.

 

Sehun is brooding and melancholy now, the joy he had on his face when he was blowing the candles on his cake and receiving his presents are gone. He does manage a small smile for Yixing when he leans over to peck Sehun on the lips. Yixing slips in hand into his master’s, and Sehun holds on to it like a lifeline. Yixing can tell that Sehun is not in the mood to talk, so they sit in silence for the duration of the three-hour drive.

 

As the car climbs up the winding mountain road, Yixing observes Sehun’s expression closely, but Sehun is a picture of stoicism, his face blank and expressionless. They stop at a rest stop halfway up the mountain, and Sehun is so distracted that he almost gets out of the car without pulling on his jacket, but Yixing stops him, making sure that Sehun is wearing his long overcoat, and gloves, and wrapping the scarf that Jandi knitted more securely around Sehun’s neck before he allows Sehun to exit the car. After they’ve used the toilet, and shared a cup of hot chocolate that Yixing bought from a vending machine, they walk back to the car and Yixing thought that they would be climbing back in, but instead, Sehun takes the bouquet of white roses from the front seat, and closes the front door again. He takes Yixing’s hand in his own, and he wordlessly leads Yixing away from the carpark. Yixing follows in silence.

 

They walk along the roadside for a while, climbing the upward meandering road. It’s early morning, and the sky is still dark. Sunrise is more than an hour away. Yixing can see the morning star shining clearly in the sky. The early hour means that there is hardly any traffic on the road, but they keep to the very edge of the road just in case, outside the car lane. They round a particularly sharp corner, and Sehun stops. They are standing on the edge of a small cliff, behind a short metal barricade. Beneath their feet, the ground drops steeply, ending a few meters down in a barren knoll, covered in sparse winter vegetation. Above them, the stars twinkle in the night sky.

 

“This was where the accident happened. Our car crashed through the barricade, right where we’re standing now. Our car landed in the ground below.”

 

Yixing hugs Sehun tightly. Sehun is crying silently, beads of tears rolling down his cheeks in rivulets, and his shoulders shake with his silent sobs. Yixing rubs soothing circles on his master’s back.

 

“I caused the accident,” Sehun chokes out. “It’s my fault that they died. My memory of it is hazy, but I remember my mother saying that there had just been a snowstorm, and that even though the roads were reopened, she thought perhaps we shouldn’t go on the ski trip after all, just to be safe. But I had been looking forward to ski trip so much, I threw a tantrum and pleaded with my parents that we go. They gave in. If it weren’t for me, they’ll still be alive.”

 

“It’s not your fault, Master Sehun. You were six years old. You didn’t know any better about driving safety. Please don’t blame yourself. I’m sure your parents wouldn’t want you to.”

 

“When I grew older, I looked up the weather and traffic records. There really had been a snowstorm earlier that day. But the weather cleared up. I checked the time of the accident, and it happened after the authorities had lifted the road closure order.”

 

“It really isn’t your fault, then. Your parents wouldn’t have been on the road if they hadn’t thought it would have been safe to go, regardless of what you said. And for authorities to reopen the road, they must have thought it was safe for travel already. No one could have anticipated the accident.”

 

“When I was sixteen, just a few months before I met you, I heard a rumour. I was sleeping in a hidden upstairs corner, at the rooftop of a concert hall, during the intermission of the performance of a symphony orchestra, when I heard two politicians talking. They were at the rooftop for a smoke, and they didn’t know I was leaning against the wall, round the corner behind them. They said that my parents were killed in retaliation to my grandfather, who was putting in place some very unpopular government policies. I told my F4 hyungs about it, and Kris-hyung hired a private investigator to check it out. The person he hired was a Korean-American ex-FBI agent. He confirmed that the rumour was true. They had tampered with my father’s car. That’s why he lost control of it.”

 

Yixing heart goes out to Sehun. He had lost his parents, and nearly died in the same accident as well, because of politics. Yixing feels a sense of disgust for the people who could target innocent family members of their political enemies.

 

“You had nothing to do with your parents’ death, Master Sehun. Those people, they are the real culprits.”

 

“I just keep thinking that if only I hadn’t insisted on going on the ski trip, then we wouldn’t have been in the tampered car in the first place, and the accident would never have happened.”

 

“Then the accident would have just happened somewhere else. It’s not your fault. You don’t have to feel guilty about surviving. I’m sure that your parents would have taken great comfort in the fact that you had survived.”

  
“The private investigator gave us a name list of the people involved. Chanyeol-hyung gave the list to his father. A month after that, Chanyeol-hyung told me that the Black Dragon Brotherhood had punished all the people on list for me.”

 

“How?” Yixing asks quietly.

 

“I don’t know. I never asked. I didn’t want to know. It didn’t make me feel better, knowing that revenge had been carried out on them. It’s not like that could bring my parents back. The only thing that made me feel better, was meeting you.”

 

Yixing leans up and kisses Sehun gently. Sehun hugs Yixing close to him, and deepens the kiss.

 

“Do you think my parents are watching over me, from wherever they are?”

 

“I’m sure they are, Master Sehun.” Yixing wonders if his own parents are watching over him too.

 

“I wish I could show you to my parents, and let them know that I am not all alone, that I have you, and that I’m going to be alright.”

 

“I’m sure they’re watching over us now, Master Sehun. They know that I’m with you, and that I will never leave you. This is my promise to you, and to them.”

 

Sehun gently lays the bouquet of white roses on the ground in front of them, at the spot where the car had crashed through the barricade so many years ago. They walk back to their jeep, hand in hand. The driver had been waiting for them in the rest stop. As the car drives up the mountain road to the resort, they pass by the bend where they had been standing just now, where the bouquet of flowers lies by the roadside.

 

When Yixing and Sehun check into the resort, it is already morning, and the sun has just risen. When they step into their suite, the hotel has an elegantly decorated cake and a card sitting on the coffee table as a birthday surprise for Sehun. Sehun video calls Kris, assuring him that he and Yixing have reached the resort safely, then texts the same to Chanyeol and Baekhyun. Tired out from jet lag, Sehun and Yixing crash onto the bed immediately after showering, curling up together in blissful sleep. They only wake up in the late afternoon. Since it’s a little late in the day, they decide to leave the skiing to tomorrow, and spend the rest of the afternoon snow sledding. Yixing tries his best, but Sehun is just too fast, his reflexes too good, and he beats Yixing every time. Yixing is tempted to pout at his repeated losses, but the sight of Sehun laughing from the adrenaline rush, his cheeks pink from the exertion and his eyes closed into crescent moons, warms his heart too much for a pout to come out convincingly, so Yixing just settles on dusting snow off his master’s clothes for him. They take a wefie on the ski slopes, and Sehun sends the photo to his F4 hyungs, to reassure them that he’s happy and enjoying himself with Yixing.

 

They eat a simple but good dinner at the resort’s restaurant, then retire to their room for the night. After their baths, Yixing pops open a bottle of champagne, so that they can drink once more to Sehun’s birthday. They sit on the couch in front of the fireplace, and clink their glasses together in a toast. Sehun takes a long sip of champagne before putting down the glass. Then he fetches the bamboo flute that Yixing gave him. He plays a tune on it for Yixing. It’s a familiar tune, hauntingly beautiful and one of Sehun’s favourites. Yixing has heard Sehun play it on the violin, the piano and the guitar before, but it’s the first time he’s hearing it on flute. On Yixing thinks that the flute may be his favourite version of the song. On violin, the song is tragically beautiful and sad, but on flute, it sounds lithe and hopeful.

 

“I want to show you something,” Sehun says quietly, putting down the flute after the song is finished. He removes a black folder from his hand-carry bag, and passes it to Yixing. Yixing puts down his glass of champagne and puts the folder in his lap. It looks expensive, made of black leather. He opens the folder, and it contains a single piece of paper, the corners of the paper tucked securely into the slits. Yixing’s eyes grow wide as he reads the document.

 

Both Kris’s and Sehun’s signatures are on it. It’s a sales contract. Between Kris and Sehun. For Yixing. Sehun has bought Yixing from Kris.

 

Yixing tears his eyes away from the document to look at Sehun.

 

“I got my full inheritance today. According to my parents’ will, all their bank accounts, properties, and businesses became accessible to me when the clock struck midnight today. Before that, I only got a monthly allowance. My allowance is enough for me to live comfortably, but it was not enough for me to buy you. I only managed to buy Taeyeon because I sold a couple of the diamonds that my parents left me. Those weren’t frozen as part of my inheritance.”

 

“But this means you’re my master now! My one and only master.” The implications of this sinks down on Yixing, and a grin spreads across his face.

 

Sehun is watching Yixing’s reaction closely. “You look.. happy,” he observes.

 

“Of course, I’m happy!” exclaims Yixing. He likes Kris, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun, and sex with them has always been good, but from now onwards, there will be no more sneaking behind Sehun’s back. No more having to endure seeing the pain in Sehun’s eyes when he has to deliver the hurtful news that he just had to serve another master. From now onwards, it’s just going to be Sehun, Sehun, Sehun.

 

Yixing has the presence of mind to close the leather folder and lay it carefully on the coffee table, before he jumps Sehun, tackling him down onto the couch, and climbing over him to smother him in passionate kisses. Sehun is smiling up into the kisses, amused by Yixing’s display of affection.

 

“My Yixing,” Sehun says softly, caressing Yixing’s face gently.

 

“Yours,” Yixing confirms happily. Eager to reward his master, Yixing peels off Sehun’s clothes for him, and makes quick work of his own. He goes down on Sehun, bringing his master to hardness with his mouth. Then, he pauses in his ministrations long enough to fetch the lube from their luggage, and he lubes Sehun’s cock before lowering himself down on it, allowing his master to spear up into him, to fill him. Once Sehun is full sheathed in, Yixing lies down and drapes himself over his master, sliding himself up and down, his erect nipples brushing against Sehun’s chest, and his hard cock sandwiched in between his body and his master’s hard, flat stomach, while Sehun lies back and enjoys Yixing’s affections. This position makes it easy for Yixing to kiss Sehun, and he does so liberally. A slight shudder tells Yixing when Sehun is going to climax, and Yixing climaxes at the same time as his master, so that his ring of muscle clamps down on Sehun’s cock as his release comes. Yixing’s own cum spurts onto his stomach and Sehun’s. Yixing stays where he is for a while, boneless and satiated, his head on Sehun’s chest as Sehun runs his fingers through his hair.

 

“You’re beautiful.”

 

Yixing smiles and plants a small kiss on Sehun’s collarbone for the compliment.

 

“When I told Kris-hyung that I wanted to buy you, he actually wanted to give you to me for free, like how I gave Taeyeon to Baekhyun-hyung and Chanyeol-hyung. But I insisted on paying for you. It wouldn’t feel like I really owned you otherwise.”

 

Yixing thinks back on how he served Kris, as well as Chanyeol and Baekhyun, in Las Vegas. He now realises that that had been his last service to them. He thinks about how sweet and gentle they were, and how nostalgic. They must have been fully aware of Yixing’s impending transfer of ownership.

 

“Kris’s secretary… and the two men we met at the airport…”

 

“My lawyer and Kris’s. We signed the contract at the restaurant in the airport.”

 

“Couldn’t wait till morning, could you?” teases Yixing. “You had to make all those poor people work at 2 am in the morning.”

 

“I’ve waited for five years. That’s long enough.”

 

Sehun’s tone turns sad again, and Yixing is quick to kiss Sehun’s bad mood away. Yixing is satisfied when he has Sehun smiling again. Tonight is a night of celebration and he doesn’t want Sehun sad. However, something Sehun had just said bugs Yixing at the back of his mind. Yixing replays the conversation he just had with Sehun, and the answer comes to him.

 

“You said that you had to sell off a few of the diamonds that your parents left you to buy Taeyeon,” Yixing frets. He knows how much Sehun treasures the things that his parents left him. Selling the diamonds must have been a painful decision for Sehun. “Do you think you can get them back?”

 

Sehun smiles at Yixing, pleased at how well Yixing knows him. “I asked one of the staff who works at my family’s diamond store to approach the people whom I sold the diamonds to, to see if they were willing to sell the diamonds back to me. With my inheritance unfrozen, I can afford to buy them back now. However, both buyers said that someone else recently bought the diamonds from them. My staff tried to ask who the buyers were, so that he could approach whoever they were to purchase the diamonds, but the sellers of both diamonds looked mildly afraid, and refused to disclose who it was, saying they were requested not to.” Sehun smiles wryly at Yixing. “I think we both know that there is only one organisation that sparks such fear in Seoul.”

 

“The Black Dragon Brotherhood.” Yixing smiles knowingly in return.

 

“Just now, Chanyeol-hyung and Baekhyun-hyung refused to tell me what they got me for my birthday. It’s just a guess, but when I return home, I think I’ll find my parents’ diamonds waiting for me there.”

 

“I’m sure that’ll be the case, Master Sehun.”

 

“It’ll give me something to look forward to when I return to Seoul.”

 

It’ll give Yixing something to look forward to as well. He can already imagine the look of joy on Sehun’s face when he looks upon the diamonds once again. Yixing climbs off his master, and cleans himself and Sehun up. He picks up his boxer briefs from the floor and is about to step into them, when Sehun stops him.

 

“I wouldn’t bother, if I were you.”

 

Yixing laughs, and climbs into Sehun’s lap.

 

“I’ve more documents to show you actually.”

 

“You do?” Yixing raises an eyebrow, wondering what they could be.

 

“I would have shown them all to you at the same time, but you were just so eager.”

 

Yixing smiles sheepishly, and kisses the corner of Sehun’s mouth. Sehun removes another black leather folder from his bag and hands it to Yixing. When Yixing opens it, he sees that it’s a title deed for a condominium apartment in Seoul. It’s in an expensive district. Yixing stares at the name written on the title deed- Zhang Yixing.

 

“It overlooks the Han River. I think you’ll like it. It’s already fully furnished.”

 

Yixing doesn’t know what to say. It’s every sex slave’s dream, to save up enough money from the gifts and trinkets that their masters or clients give them, so that they can afford to buy a house for their old age. Yixing is 26 years old, and he already has a house in his name.

 

“Thank you, Master Sehun.”

 

Words cannot convey the gratitude he feels towards Sehun now, but he tries anyway.

 

“There’s more,” Sehun says softly.

 

He hands Yixing a bank book. The bank book is also in Yixing’s name, and there’s one billion won inside it. Yixing is overwhelmed. Sehun is too good to him. What has Yixing ever done, to deserve a master like Sehun?

 

“It’s your birthday,” Yixing says. “You’re supposed to be receiving gifts. Not giving them.”

 

“I like giving you things. And besides, you’re my birthday gift. The 21-year-old birthday gift I bought for myself.”

 

“I’ll try to be a good 21st year old birthday gift then,” Yixing says, murmuring the words seductively into Sehun’s ear. Sehun’s eyes darken, and he carries Yixing, bridal style, to the bed. He climbs in between Yixing’s legs. Yixing strokes him to hardness once again, and he penetrates Yixing slowly and gently. Yixing guides him so that he’s kneeling on the bed, and Yixing’s bum is lifted off the mattress, supported on his master’s thighs, and his feet is resting on Sehun’s chest. Sehun holds on to Yixing’s knees as he penetrates him, and Yixing pumps his own cock in tandem to Sehun’s thrusts. This angle allows Sehun to reach deep into him, filling him to depths deeper than Yixing thought possible. After they both complete, Yixing pulls Sehun down on the bed next to him, and kisses him thoroughly.

 

“I love you,” Sehun tells him, his eyes sincere as they look down into Yixing’s.

 

“I love you too,” Yixing replies happily. Yixing cleans them both up again, they settle down to sleep, Yixing snuggling into Sehun’s arms instead of sleeping on his pillow. Exhausted from the day’s exertions, sleep comes quickly to Yixing, and he falls asleep, happy and contented in Sehun’s embrace.

 

The next day, Yixing wakes up feeling sore. Blurrily, he blinks as his eyes search the room around him, but Sehun has already woken up and is not in bed next to him. Yixing wonders why he’s waking up feeling so happy, and the events of the previous night come rushing back to him. As Yixing recalls the night before, hazy memories of Sehun taking him a third time in the middle of the night come back to him. He remembers Sehun’s gentle but strong and steady thrusts into him, of himself moaning and trying to flutter his eyelids open, of Sehun petting his hair and telling him that he understands that Yixing is tired, and that Yixing could go back to sleep if he wants to, and of Sehun kissing him. Yixing smiles at the memory. Sehun has always been ardent in his affections, but three times in one night is a new feat. Yixing sits up in bed, and he can see the back of Sehun's head through the open bedroom door. Sehun’s sitting on the couch in the living room of their suite, in front of the fireplace.

 

Yixing gets out of the bed, and the morning air is cold, chilling his bare skin as he scoots into the bathroom, so he quickly pulls on one of the thick furry bathrobes hanging on the wall before he washes his face and brushes his teeth. Then he walks out to find his master. Sehun is already immaculately dressed for the day. He’s seated on the couch, with the leather folder in his lap, studying Yixing’s slave contract wordlessly.

 

“Are you still looking at that?” Yixing smiles fondly, as he leans down to give Sehun a good morning kiss. “I’m yours, Master Sehun. I belong to you, and only you.”

 

Yixing pads back to their bedroom to get dressed. Sehun’s wearing layers of black, dark grey and light grey today, so Yixing puts together an ensemble that would match him. He styles his hair and puts on the diamond earring Sehun gave him for his birthday a few months before, daps a few drops of cologne on his neck, and goes back to join his master. Sehun hasn’t moved an inch since Yixing left him. He’s still looking down on the slave contract in his lap, sliding his finger over the words on the page. Yixing sits down next to his master. Now that he’s more awake, he can make out the dark circles under Sehun’s eyes. Concerned, Yixing slips a finger under Sehun’s chin, and turns Sehun’s face towards him so that he can inspect them more closely. Sehun’s eyes are tired. Weary. 

 

“Did you not sleep well last night?” asks Yixing worriedly.

 

“I didn’t sleep at all,” Sehun confesses.

 

“Oh,” Yixing instantly feels guilty about how soundly he slept. He had slept peacefully, without a care about whether his master slept well or not. He hadn’t been a good slave last night.

 

“Don’t feel guilty that you slept well,” Sehun instructs gently, reading Yixing’s mind. “I like it when you sleep well. I like seeing you sleep soundly in my arms. You looked so relaxed, and so angelic.”

 

“Why couldn’t you sleep?”

 

“It’s just that I finally owned you after so long. I wanted to savour every moment of it. Sleeping just seemed like a waste of time.”

 

Yixing doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry. Sehun is just so precious.

 

“We have a lifetime together,” Yixing reminds his master, smiling. “Nothing is more important that your health, Master Sehun. Let’s go for breakfast, since we’re already dressed, and you must be hungry. After that, we’re coming back here so you can get some sleep. We’ll leave skiing for later.”

 

Sehun ignores Yixing. He has turned his attention back to the slave contract in his lap. Slowly, he slips out the corners of the paper that have been tucked into the slits at the edges, and removes the sheet of paper from the leather folder. Then, he stands up and walks to the fireplace. Yixing watches his master without comment. Sehun is in a strange mood this morning, and Yixing can’t figure it out. He wonders if he should call Kris.

 

Sehun holds the paper above the fireplace. Then, his fingers let go of the paper. Yixing cries out. He springs to his feet, and dashes across the room to the fireplace. But he is too late. As if in slow motion, Yixing watches the paper flutter down, down, down, until its edges touches the flames. Yixing almost reaches down to grab the paper, but it is already too late. The paper is already curling up in the flames. Yixing’s fate is written on that piece of paper, and Yixing watches in horror as the hungry tongues of fire consume it, devouring it into nothingness.

 

The piece of paper contained Yixing’s entire life, his being, his purpose for existing.

 

And now the paper is gone.

 

It doesn’t exist anymore. And this means… This means…

 

Yixing’s slave contract doesn’t exist anymore.

 

This means… Yixing is… Yixing is…

 

Free.

 

The realisation hits Yixing like a blow.

 

Yixing remembers the piece of paper Kyungsoo had put in front of him, 14 years ago. Yixing remembers how, his hand trembling, he had put his thumbprint on it. A press of his thumb on the piece of paper, and he had given his life away. That piece paper said that he belonged to the pleasure house, until a new piece of paper was formulated after his auction, a piece of paper Yixing never even set his eyes on, but he knew must exist, with the signatures of the pleasure house bosses and Kris on it. Then yesterday, there had been a yet another new piece of paper, one that Yixing had been very pleased about. And now, that paper had just ceased to exist.

 

Yixing is hyperventilating. His breaths come in shuddering gasps, as he stares at Sehun, his mouth agape. Unlike Yixing, Sehun is picture of calmness. He is staring at the fire, his face devoid of expression.

 

“Master Sehun… please… I don’t understand…” Yixing gasps out the words, floundering, unsure.

 

“You don’t have to address me as Master now,” Sehun says quietly, still not meeting Yixing’s eyes. “You can just call me Sehun.”

 

Yixing just gapes at him. One thing is clear at least. It was not a slip of the hand. Sehun had deliberately let go of the paper.

 

Sehun turns around and walks towards the full length window. He looks out into the winter landscape. The sun is just peeking out from the behind the snow-capped mountains in the horizon, casting the sky in brilliant hues of pink, orange and blue.

 

“You are free. To go.”

 

Yixing’s gaze drops down to the coffee table in front of him. The empty leather folder lies open on the table, but there’s another closed leather folder next to it. A leather folder which contains a title deed. A title deed of an apartment, overlooking the Han River, which is already fully furnished.  A title deed, with Yixing’s name. And next to the title deed, a bank book, also in Yixing’s name, with one billion won inside it. Abruptly, Yixing realises that he can just take them, and leave, and no one can stop him. Not the government, not the Black Dragon Brotherhood. Yixing can start afresh, pick up where his life left off at 12 years old. He could go back to school, he could get a job. Or not. He has enough money in his bank account to not have to work for the rest of his life.

 

“The five years you spent with me, they were the happiest days of my life. Every day, after my parents died, I wished I had died in the accident with them. But after I met you, for the first time in my life, I was happy that I survived the accident. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have known what it was like to hold you in my arms, to kiss you, and to sleep with you, and to tell you that I love you, and to hear you say it back. I liked to hear you say it, even though I knew it wasn’t real.”

 

Sehun’s back is facing Yixing, and he can’t see Sehun’s face, but Sehun’s voice chokes over his last statement. Sehun puts a hand on the glass window to support himself.

 

“It’s enough. Five years with you. You don’t have to worry about me,” says Sehun quietly. “I’m not the young, immature boy that I once was. I’ll be fine on my own. I have five years of memories with you, and they’ll be enough to last me a lifetime, to give me strength to continue living. And yesterday, I finally got to know to what it was like to have you all to myself, to not to have to share you with anyone. It’ll be enough. The memories of yesterday, they’ll be enough to make me happy for a very long time.”

 

Yixing walks up to the glass window too, standing next to Sehun. Sehun continues looking out into the winter scenery, not meeting Yixing’s eyes.

 

“I wanted to get you one more gift actually.”

 

Yixing waits wordlessly for Sehun to continue.

 

“Lu Han.”

 

Yixing stares up in shock at Sehun.

 

“I wanted to ask Baekhyun-hyung if I could buy Lu Han from him. But Chanyeol-hyung had just bought Xiumin for him, and Baekhyun-hyung couldn’t stop gushing about cute Xiumin and Lu Han look together, and how he was going to dress them in matching outfits all the time, and how perfect it would be to have Taeyeon, Lu Han and Xiumin along for their honeymoon. Baekhyun-hyung just looked so happy, I couldn’t bear to ask him in the end. I know that Baekhyun-hyung would sell Lu Han to me if only I had asked, because Baekhyun-hyung dotes on me, but I really didn’t want to spoil his honeymoon with Chanyeol-hyung. Maybe in a few year’s time, Baekhyun-hyung will tire of Lu Han. I’ll buy Lu Han for you then.”

 

Yixing finds his voice at last.

 

“I don’t want you to buy Lu Han for me.”

 

He covers Sehun’s hand on the glass with his own.

 

“I don’t want Lu Han. I’ve haven’t wanted him for a long time. There’s only one person I want.”

 

Sehun finally turns to look at Yixing. His face is tear-streaked, and the sight of it breaks Yixing’s heart.

 

“You’re the only one for me.”

 

“You would choose me, over Lu Han?” Sehun sounds incredulous.

 

“I’ll choose you, over anyone,” Yixing says firmly.

 

Sehun closes his eyes, and fresh tears roll down his cheeks. Yixing brushes the tears away gently.

 

“My heart is yours. It was yours when you told me you loved me for the first time. It was yours, when you gave your first time to me. It was yours when you never lay with anyone except me, even though with your wealth and your status and your good looks, you could have had anyone you wanted, sex slave or free. It was yours, when I had to serve others besides you, and you put up with it, and loved me and cherished me anyway. It was yours when you couldn’t bear to strike me in New Caledonia, even though I had just broken your heart. It was yours when you turned your back and walked away from me, and I realised that I never wanted to go through that again. It was yours when I was kneeling outside your house, hearing you play the violin. I realised that I want to always be by your side when you play the violin, or when you play any other instrument. I don’t want to only be able to hear you play, but not be able to see you and talk to you. It was yours, every day for the past five years, when I hugged you, and kissed you, and slept next to you, and woke up next to you, and told you I loved you.”

 

Yixing moves in to close the distance between him and Sehun, stepping into Sehun’s arms, wrapping his arms tightly around Sehun. As always, Sehun immediately accommodates Yixing’s touch, his arms encircling Yixing, drawing Yixing closer to him.

 

“Sehun, I’m yours.”

 

Yixing leans up, and Sehun meets him halfway, and they kiss as the sun rises up behind them, lighting up the snow-covered landscape in a bright, warm glow.

 

 

THE END

 


End file.
